The solar revolution is at a tipping point, and some executives in electricity monopolies realize their business model is doomed. This must read story discusses desperate attempts to keep the sun from rising:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/business/energy-environment/utilities-confront-fresh-threat-do-it-yourself-power.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0.
“We did not get in front of this disruption,” Clark Gellings, a fellow
at the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit arm of the [electricity] industry, said during a panel discussion at the annual utility
convention last month. “It may be too late.”
It is too late "...to get in front of this disruption." And solar's disruption of the grid and electricity markets will be the biggest energy story during the next decade.
I read this and see some issues that may need to be addressed in the future, but this question gets to me, since I know at some point it needs to be answered. At what point in time will residents with solar, wind or micro-hydro power have to pay a fee for maintaining the grid? As more units convert to these non-point energy sources, the remaining costumers gets left paying a greater cost for maintaining the grid. As an elected official, I just see that there will be a line where businesses and residents will have an outrage over this difference in rates. There is the answer that I fear, the government will take over maintaining the electric system if companies can not make a profit.
ReplyDeleteThe distribution bill now typically includes a customer charge--a fixed charge that customers pay no matter how much they use. They pay it even if they use nothing. That charge may need to be adjusted but that will be a technical rate matter that the PUC has jurisdiction to decide. There is also something called a standby rate that might come into play. The argument will be over the amount. But customers soon will be dropping entirely off the grid when fuel cells proliferate or batteries become economic. There is a fundamental change coming to generation and the grid.
DeleteI do agree with you that in the next decades we can not rely on the fossil fuels only.In the coming years for harnessing the energy we will find none other option than renewable energy resources.But the big question arise is that do we need to pay more initially for installing these and what would be there maintenance cost?
ReplyDeleteSolar and wind have very low production and maintenance costs. It is one of their key comparative advantages. The upfront capital costs were once very high but have been cut substantially now. Better still, those upfront capital costs are continuing to fall, while the amount of electricity generated per kilowatt climbs. The competitive posture of both wind and solar is getting better every year and already is grid competitive in many parts of the world and America.
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