Solar Energy Electricity Generation

I made a good career in the electric utility industry talking to angry people. These were normal everyday hard working utility customers that were angry, frustrated, and often confused about their electric bill. They blamed the electric utility for their problems. "There is no way I used over a $100.00 worth of electricity last month", they would often say. While the details might vary the expressed feelings were really pretty much the same in every case. "I am mad about my electric bill and since you are the electric company it must be your fault".

After a letting them settle down a little most of these angry people were receptive to the idea that their electric bill was almost completely under their control. Having a low electric bill was easy. All they needed to do was start flipping breakers into the off position and "presto" -no bill, or at least a very low bill. Of course, spoiled milk and frozen pipes cost money too. So, you have to decide, "cold beer and fresh milk" or "lower bills". Yet, there are many low cost or no cost actions that a home owner can take to reduce their energy bill. We’ll get into that discussion some other time. After a home visit I was usually able to get within 5% of guessing their electric bill, just by adding up the estimated energy use of all of the equipment in their home. Of course the difference was due to their confusion about how often the equipment was running, but I digress.

The point of this is that people get mad when they feel their choices are being shoved down their throats. People get happy when they feel like they are in control of the way they spend their money. I want to continue the discussion about electric utility generation choices by talking a little bit about solar energy. Many electricity consumers hear about the "free power" from the sun and assume that they are being gouged by their electric companies. While scientists estimate that the power of sunlight hitting the earth could produce enough electricity to run everything, it is not that easy and it will not be free.

The science of solar electricity is fairly easy. A group of Solar panels called an array turns sunlight into direct electrical current (DC). Control equipment links the system to the load, while an inverter is used convert the DC power in to Alternating current (AC) power to be used by most of today’s appliances and equipment. And you thought AC/DC was a rock band. Solar electricity is often called PV for "photovoltaic", the chemical process that solar panels use to generate electricity. Everything you ever wanted to know about Solar Electricity can be found on the amazing Solar Buzz website (http://www.solarbuzz.com).

They say the following about the present role of solar energy in the USA.
"In 2000, total U.S. net generation of electricity was 3,792 billion kWh, 2% higher than 1999. Fifty-two percent was generated by coal, with nuclear providing 20%, 16% from natural gas and 3% from petroleum. Hydro provided 7% while other renewables generated 2%. Generation from coal, nuclear and gas was higher than in 1999, by 4, 4 and 7%, respectively.The use of renewable energy for electricity generation in the United States dropped by almost 12% in 2000. Renewables generated 358,606 million kilowatt-hours (net) in 2000, down from 406,322 in 1999, according to the Energy Information Administration. The big drop was from the largest source of renewables, hydroelectricity, which went from 319,484 million kWh to 274,600.
Solar PV went from 848 to 844 million kWh. Wind was the only renewable energy to buck the decline, rising from 4,488 to 4,947 million kWh over the two years. Looking at broader total energy use, rather than just electricity generation, the picture in 1998 had renewable energy contributing 8% of the total. This was dominated by hydropower and biomass (93% combined), with solar contributing 1% of it." (http://www.solarbuzz.com/StatsMarketshare.htm)

The small percentage the solar power contributed to the USA energy picture is due to many factors. Mostly, the puny 1% is because the residential and small commercial solar industry is new. Others argue that another reason is because this disbursed industry does not command the same political clout as coal and other fossil fuel based generation. This lack of clout shows up in many ways including lower government subsidies for solar installations, resistance to market enhancing features like net-metering, misinformation about the safety and liability issues, as well as a home and building construction industry that is generally oblivious to energy efficient designs that could make solar power a more reasonable choice.

According the Solar Buzz website, the solar industry is making excellent progress in their battle to lower equipment prices to make the final output of kilowatt hours more cost competitive with central station fossil fuel power plants. According to Solar Buzz the cost of solar panels has dropped over 85% since 1982. Today one kilowatt hour (kWh) of solar power is in the 30 cent range. The average cost per kWh in the nation for utility power is approaching 10 cents per kWh.

Another reason for the low solar role in electricity generation at the home owner level is the high cost of entry. The typical cost for a stand alone solar electric system runs about $10,000 and can generate about 1,800 kWh per year in a sunny climate. The nation wide monthly kWh use for the average home is 500kWh per month. So, a much larger system would need to be installed to cover the average annual 6,000 kWh per year. At the current kWh cost you can buy 100,000 kilowatt hours of electricity for the same price as that $10,000 solar system or about 16 years of electricity from your electric company.
Next week, I’ll try get some information out about the central station generation options being explored for solar power. In the mean time, check out these web sites to learn more about the solar and alternative energy possibilities for your home.
http://www.chicagosolarpartnership.org
http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/vision.html
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/
http://www.solarbuzz.com
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=153397,00.html
http://www.dsireusa.org