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Non-Tech : Alternative energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Feraldo who wrote (4723)	5/1/2008 11:04:46 AM
From: Feraldo	Respond to of 16955

From everything I have put together, it is just not a viable alternative in Indiana to have solar panels. If one does not borrow money to do it, the payoff is someone around 25 years for the city I live in. The problems include: Most electric companies in Indiana do not buy the power generated Indiana has dirt cheap electricity compared to the rest of the country. I pay .078 +/- a kilowatt. That's about half of CA prices. We have a horrible spot for peak solar hours, which was to be expected. Indiana will go a whole week being cloudy and the winter offers little sunlight throughout the whole season. The start up costs would be pretty time consuming. We'd have to be certified electricians/solar panel installers etc.... There is no tax incentive to speak of in Indiana. We have an incentive that says one does not have to pay property taxes on the value the solar panels would add to the house. That's like $50 a year and hardly worth considering as an incentive. So overall I just don't think solar panels have come close to grid parity nor are they cost effective in any time frame under 20 years in Indiana. However, there may be a general desire to get off the grid and help the environment so some people may want solar just for those reasons and forget about the cost. I don't know, but I do know it is just not worth it.