Solar Power economics - a great big SECRET??
Solar panel electric power returns more than 10% per year!!
Date: 5/25/2007 1:46:39 PM ( 17 y ) ... viewed 8565 times I am not sure of my figures, I checked them several times, but it sure looks like something is wrong with they way we are being shown how solar power works.
It appears to be much more economically viable than we are told it is - the lifetime operation of a solar cell is not being factored in!! Once they are set up and producing electricity, that supply can continue for 25 years. In fact, that is they typical warranty for solar panels - 85% 'as good as new' for up to 25 years. They could be producing electricity for up to 50 years!!
Once the initial cost is recoverd, due to the low maintenance, the electricy produced after that is more or less FREE. Free free free. So, how long does it take to recoup your investment? Or, what returns can you expect on your solar panel investment? - it appears to be highly favorable, compared to other investments!! Therefore, investers would normally be flocking to get in on this windfall [sunfall?], and thereby setting up solar farms everywhere, helping greatly to solve global warming and pollution, but someone is getting in the way.
for example - a solar farm in Ontario is going to cost about $300Million to set up.
[Since the owners of that farm refused to reveal the cost [I wonder why] the figures used for that estimate had to be gathered from other projects where a 10Megawatt solar farm costs about $75Million to set up, including land and so on.]
Once operating, it will produce 40 megawatts "on average" - it actually produces about 80 megawatts in normal operation, but that has to be averaged in with night time hours with no power produced.
That 40 megawatts is the same as 40,000 kilowatts, and we pay about 10 cents for each "kilowatt hour" {KwHr]. [This solar farm actually has a contract with Ontario Power that says they will pay 40cents per KwHr]
Either figure will show a good return for their investment:
- at 10 cents per KwHr., 40,000 Kw. = $4000 PER HOUR that the investers get. That turns out to be, on average, $4000/Hr X 8760 hours in a year = $35,040,000.
$35Million a year times 20 years =$700Million. Thats over twice the setup cost, so they doubled their money in 20 years. Plus, that is 5 years short of the gauranteed 80% efficiency so add another 5 years at about $28Million a year for 5 years, and whatever they pump out after that, possibly $20M/yr for another 20 years.
Generally, investments that gain 5% a year are typical. At 10%/yr. gains, it is considered a good investment, most investers do not ever see that much return. Only criminal operations ever double their invested money each year. Therefore, when a solar farm returns $35M a yr on a $300M investment, that exceeds the 10% return rate that large corporate investers might get. Solar farms appear to be the best [legal]investment available right now, but it is not being promoted by anyone!!
Even the big players are being kept in the dark, or more likely it is the regulaters and beaurocrats that are keeping the investment in solar farms to a minimum.
The media is portraying each solar farm as an act of charity, a losing proposition that the government has to back up, just to address global warming.
However, one group that is not controlled by our media or our corrupt regulaters are the Amish. They are going solar. They know. Here is a link to that story:
"Amish In Ohio Turned On To Solar Power"
http://tinyurl.com/2jy4fp
If someone can "enhance my economic portrayal" of solar farms, please reply in the comments to this blog. Or e-mail me [is my addy there?]. Corrections, encouragement, whatever - I am not a math wizard, but I do know a little about electricity [I worked as an electrician]. I think my figures are correct, but the "investment return" aspect is based on my scant knowledge of such things.
What it all means if I am accurate is that solar farms are a good economic investment, better than putting money in the bank for sure. Also, soalr panels on your own home will return the same rates, and allow you to have power when the grid goes down. Juicing your electric cars from your own solar panels on your roof would reduce your transportation costs to about 2 cents per mile!! [compared to 10 to 15 cents per mile with gasoline].
Solar power is a major advantage to the masses of ordinary people, yet we are not being encouraged to use it - in fact we are facing the same "denial industry" that told us global warming was NOT real [and those people KNEW it was real, or they would not have spent so much on fake science to deny it, right?] - the deniers are not allowing this good news information about solar panel economics to get to the masses, and how many people read this blog?
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