Solar power is growing so fast that older energy companies are trying to stop it

This post was killed by user flags.

In Spain the conglomerate of big energy companies is so scared that recently they lobbied the government in order to cut R&D funds for solar companies and pushed for the introduction of a law that basically says: "If you install solar panels at home and you don't pay us a tax, then you'll get a fine up to €30 Million (~$40M)"...

http://www.thelocal.es/20130821/spanish-solar-law-hits-inter...

That is just BS. Power companies are expected to absorb all negative externalities, such as keeping 1:1 power plant on hot standby, or adding more power lines to handle peaks. They have a right to complain!

What I find way more disturbing is tax on off-grid solar panels on roof tops. Already happening in Spain and other south european countries.

To be clear, the issue here isn't that they want to stop the upstart solar revolution (although I'm sure that's a factor too), but the bigger problem of grid spikes due to tie ins.

Solar comes in two flavors: Battery and grid tie. When you tie your solar setup to the grid, technically you can make money back from the power company for selling your excess power and as an added benefit, you don't need to keep a bank of (expensive, heavy and space consuming) batteries.

During the night, you can draw power from the utility in lieu of drawing from a battery bank, but the idea is that you can buy back most of the excess power you "sold" to the grid during the day. This is the "net metering" they're talking about.

Battery and solar is how I'm planning to go with my cabin setup so I won't have to deal with this problem. But the subsidies escalating the issue is really the fault of the law makers who enabled it.

It would have made far more sense to promote off-grid for energy since that doesn't put the burden on power companies, but grid tie is being sold and promoted as a much cheaper panacea for both power costs and environmental benefits.

There is a very good reason why utilities have a problem with solar and wind.

The reason is that they are expected to run the grid reliably and solar and wind are in no way contributing to that end.

Solar and wind are causing major issues in distribution networks, because when you have massive unscheduled energy spikes from wind and sun, that energy has to go somewhere.

I am disappointed by the article, which is trying to portray the utilities as villains, which they may be - but in this case it is a legitimate concern.

I am also disappointed by the comments in this thread. I would expect "hackers" to be better educated about electricity and power generation.

Ugh, sour grapes from the utilities.

Surely cashing in and taking a cut of the 'net meter' money for maintaining the infrastructure to allow selling electricity back to the grid would allow profitability to be maintained?

it's reasonable to argue that the grid should be maintained, but these articles never provide any detailed insight into what those costs actually are. Surely the best solution is to maintain and/or upgrade the grid infrastructure to support a future focused on distributed generation as well as consumption?

Ah the beauty of the "free" market...

Funny how the market needn't be regulated when it comes to controls, consumer rights and the such, but suddenly when the fat cats are losing their cash cow, we are in dire need of some regulatory intervention.

logically, sell-back price should be wholesale, not retail.

though not sure it would actually help, and is there a wholesale market that shows the fair market price?