http://solarpanelspower.net/solar-power/thinking-big-with-small-solar Solar Panels Can Power Your Life! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:00:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://solarpanelspower.net/solar-power/thinking-big-with-small-solar/comment-page-1#comment-1683 Solar Chris Sun, 27 Mar 2011 05:17:35 +0000 http://solarpanelspower.net/?p=3652#comment-1683 I completely agree with you on this. I've been writing and solar blog (http://solarchris.blogspot.com/) and I am also a big proponent of "individual-scale" solar over "utility-scale". If you think about it, solar is a very efficient small scale energy technology. Hence, the plethora of solar calculators, solar watches, solar-powered emergency call boxes on the freeway, etc. And while there are economies of scale (purchasing power), the cost efficiencies of solar bottom out pretty quickly. If you think about it, with other energy technologies, like gas, coal, or nuclear, you have a big plant and cheap fuel. They get more efficient the more power they produce because they can spread the fixed cost of the plant over more KWHs of electricity produced - just shove more cheap fuel through to make more electricity. Solar, on the other hand, requires that you add more modules to produce more electricity. Hence, solar modules are really quasi-variable costs, rather than true fixed costs like power plants. If you were to graph this, you'd see a pretty flat curve for solar, which means that you're not getting as big of an improvement when you move from small scale to big utility scale as with other energy technologies. Therefore, I believe that small scale solar really does compete well with utility scale solar, especially given all of the other costs and complications you cite in your post. I completely agree with you on this. I’ve been writing and solar blog (http://solarchris.blogspot.com/) and I am also a big proponent of “individual-scale” solar over “utility-scale”. If you think about it, solar is a very efficient small scale energy technology. Hence, the plethora of solar calculators, solar watches, solar-powered emergency call boxes on the freeway, etc. And while there are economies of scale (purchasing power), the cost efficiencies of solar bottom out pretty quickly. If you think about it, with other energy technologies, like gas, coal, or nuclear, you have a big plant and cheap fuel. They get more efficient the more power they produce because they can spread the fixed cost of the plant over more KWHs of electricity produced – just shove more cheap fuel through to make more electricity. Solar, on the other hand, requires that you add more modules to produce more electricity. Hence, solar modules are really quasi-variable costs, rather than true fixed costs like power plants. If you were to graph this, you’d see a pretty flat curve for solar, which means that you’re not getting as big of an improvement when you move from small scale to big utility scale as with other energy technologies. Therefore, I believe that small scale solar really does compete well with utility scale solar, especially given all of the other costs and complications you cite in your post.

]]> http://solarpanelspower.net/solar-power/thinking-big-with-small-solar/comment-page-1#comment-1308 Charlie Griffin Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:46:21 +0000 http://solarpanelspower.net/?p=3652#comment-1308 What do I need for solar power to run 20 water tanks for horses that won't cost a arm and a leg .These tanks are in different places around our property and need to keep water from freezing. What do I need for solar power to run 20 water tanks for horses that won’t cost a arm and a leg .These tanks are in different places around our property and need to keep water from freezing.

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