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Old 02-20-2020, 08:22 AM
 
6,339 posts, read 11,084,820 times
Reputation: 3085

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I'm currently residing in the Cincinnati, OH. Not the place I want to live for a variety of reasons including terrible sinus issues. Presently researching places to relocate in mid to late 2021 including Kansas. I have an interest in using partial solar power at my new home (also looking at communities in three other states) and need to get some input about the following story which seems to suggest power companies in KS are stifling the growth and use of solar power.

Does anyone have any first hand knowledge about how this is impacting personal usage of solar panels at homes? This is a big issue for me. I noted states like MO don't have such regulations.

https://energynews.us/2018/08/24/mid...lar-customers/
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Old 02-20-2020, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Riley Co
374 posts, read 562,800 times
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In the news this week:

https://www.ksn.com/news/solar-panel...rgy-in-kansas/

West of Johnson City in Stanton County is where you will find 75 solar panels at the Johnson Corner Solar Project nearing completion.

“There are some smaller projects, I think the city of Pratt has a project 6 or 7 megawatts and there is some 1 megawatt projects scattered across the state as well, at 20 megawatts this will be the largest project in the state as of right now,”
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Old 02-21-2020, 06:14 AM
 
1,831 posts, read 3,199,216 times
Reputation: 2661
Kansas power companies and regulators are not know to be supportive of renewable energy sources such as home generated solar power. Independent, home use of solar panels on homes in Kansas is not something power companies are fond of in Kansas because they feel that it drives up the cost for their remaining customers to support the power production and grid. If you did your own solar power off the grid, you would be fine. If you want to still be on the grid and curb your cost with solar power, the rate structure is higher for you, which offsets savings. You would be picking the wrong state if not the worst state for this.



https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060099991
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Old 02-21-2020, 07:44 AM
 
6,339 posts, read 11,084,820 times
Reputation: 3085
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rivertowntalk View Post
Kansas power companies and regulators are not know to be supportive of renewable energy sources such as home generated solar power. Independent, home use of solar panels on homes in Kansas is not something power companies are fond of in Kansas because they feel that it drives up the cost for their remaining customers to support the power production and grid. If you did your own solar power off the grid, you would be fine. If you want to still be on the grid and curb your cost with solar power, the rate structure is higher for you, which offsets savings. You would be picking the wrong state if not the worst state for this.



https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060099991
Thanks Rivertownwalk. Yes, I would use it off grid and not have it tied into the grid. Mostly would be used for back up purposes when the power goes out.
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Old 03-13-2020, 04:20 PM
 
Location: Kansas City, KS
15 posts, read 11,901 times
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Reading the article, it looks like this fee primarily impacts heavy air conditioning users in the peak of the summer. So large house - more fee. Small house - less fee. Earth Contact House - maybe no fee. When you pick out a house to look at, certainly call the utility (The article lists two names but they are the same company now) and check how much the Kilowatt fee will be. Since you know this issue is important to you, by all means shop for a house that minimizes it.

Note - the same utility listed in the article is much of Western Missouri also. Also, there are a LOT of co-ops and municipal Utilities in Kansas besides this one.

When I retire I plan on installing a lot of those panels back behind my house. (Cheaper than putting them on the roof). By then I'll have an electric car and need the power to charge it.
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Old 03-14-2020, 03:00 PM
 
6,339 posts, read 11,084,820 times
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Thanks safety wire. Right now with the lunacy resulting from the Coronavirus, I am going to speed up my plan to buy a home now in the Spring vs. later in the year. KS should be the best place for solar power usage compared to places I am also looking at in MO and IN.
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Old 11-06-2020, 07:30 AM
 
Location: Kansas
25,960 posts, read 22,107,325 times
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For people with sinus issues, with all the blowing dust in KS, one might think about relocating here. Industrial wind farms are HUGE here. I have seen very little solar. I would check for the number of sunny days, and then subtract some from the total for accuracy.
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Old 11-06-2020, 08:26 AM
 
Location: Indiana Uplands
26,405 posts, read 46,566,000 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnywhereElse View Post
For people with sinus issues, with all the blowing dust in KS, one might think about relocating here. Industrial wind farms are HUGE here. I have seen very little solar. I would check for the number of sunny days, and then subtract some from the total for accuracy.
Regarding solar, any installations will be near existing high voltage electricity lines- this will be coming soon as costs are falling. Solar will be frequently paired with (battery) storage in the very near future in all of the US as it is cost-wise competitive. Industrial wind benefits low county tax revenues and individual landowners due to wind lease royalty payments. Now Kansas needs to use securitization of filthy coal plants that are obsolete and expensive to run compared to all other energy sources.
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Old 11-09-2020, 09:53 PM
 
78,380 posts, read 60,566,039 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
Regarding solar, any installations will be near existing high voltage electricity lines- this will be coming soon as costs are falling. Solar will be frequently paired with (battery) storage in the very near future in all of the US as it is cost-wise competitive. Industrial wind benefits low county tax revenues and individual landowners due to wind lease royalty payments. Now Kansas needs to use securitization of filthy coal plants that are obsolete and expensive to run compared to all other energy sources.
I love renewable energy but let's be honest and not demonize filthy coal plants while extoling the virtues of um....battery storage made up of rainbows and bio-engineered kelp.

I jokingly mention this because 30 years ago it was nuclear that was the devil....but now we're facing global warming from CO2 and one cannot help but look back to well meaning activists from the 1970-2000 period and say WTH?

They helped push us off ZERO CO2 emission power to those filthy coal plants. Now we are faced with the wonders of clean energy as long as we ignore what is involved in making those batteries and mining that material etc....while still having the dirty coal plants and others to fall back on when the sun is down and the wind ain't blowing.
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Old 11-10-2020, 09:14 AM
 
Location: Indiana Uplands
26,405 posts, read 46,566,000 times
Reputation: 19539
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathguy View Post
I love renewable energy but let's be honest and not demonize filthy coal plants while extoling the virtues of um....battery storage made up of rainbows and bio-engineered kelp.

I jokingly mention this because 30 years ago it was nuclear that was the devil....but now we're facing global warming from CO2 and one cannot help but look back to well meaning activists from the 1970-2000 period and say WTH?

They helped push us off ZERO CO2 emission power to those filthy coal plants. Now we are faced with the wonders of clean energy as long as we ignore what is involved in making those batteries and mining that material etc....while still having the dirty coal plants and others to fall back on when the sun is down and the wind ain't blowing.
I did not specifically mention nuclear, but yes, it is still a zero carbon source and plants that are online operate for long periods of time with little maintenance downtime overall...
Wind and solar will be most of all new energy installations in the US overall as they are now the lowest cost source to build new, bettering natural gas over the last several years. Natural gas, in the interim, is picking up the difference in generating capacity with retiring coal at the moment.
Battery storage issue is advancing in the interim, there are still issues with carbon footprint of batteries, mining, and manufacturing, hopefully better technology will mitigate that problem.
Coal is obsolete stone age technology now, your argument is invalid as utilities are retiring the plants as fast as possible now as they are the most expensive energy source to run by far, and most existing plants are very old, needing expensive upgrades that utilities do not want to pay for, or want commercial and residential ratepayers to pay for.
Oh, there won't be any existing coal plants in all of the western US by 2030-35 period at the latest for the most part, try to keep up with the news and subscribe to UtilityDive.

Oh, and this just broke a few days ago, Wisconsin moving as fast as humanly possible away from coal, and investing almost entirely in exclusively renewable generation:

https://www.wpr.org/states-largest-u...uel-generation

Last edited by GraniteStater; 11-10-2020 at 11:35 AM..
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