Solar PV is Chile going Surplus. More Renewables.

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by DCforever

Don't you think that normal dispatch rules will over time crowd out coal fired plants? PV and wind will always dispatch due to their marginal production cost ($0). When we have enough, coal will just not get dispatched enough for them to pay the start-up cost of bringing the machine on line.

Yeah, that was what I am heading towards, as well.

So I am pondering from the peanuts gallery to yell why it cannot be so.

(see, while we may think some of these guys "out-there" you can learn a LOT from opponents, if you choose to. Did you do OPFOR in the Navy? We (Army) were really big into that back in the day.)

Like I was mumbling just above -- if it goes too fast, and Coal and Nukes go bankrupt -- who will pay to clean up the Old stuff?

[ericsvibe]

Great post Phillip. I am an tax law expert, it is what I due for a living. I have spoken to many a government "bean counter" who has flat out lamented electric vehicles, and at home renewable energy. In fact, during a meet and greet, I talked to more than few who outright wanted to force homeowners to use the grid when available.

The taxes on utilities are huge. And I am talking about income taxes, as well as property taxes, and the excise taxes on use.

In Montana, our local utility gets 40% of its power from hydroelectric, 20% from solar during the summer, and the rest from coal. Unfortunately, in Montana solar is useless for 6 months of the year. In order to transition to 100% solar, we would need an electric grid that went both ways, as you stated. And this is where the problems start, not for the technology, but for the greedy state governments. They want the tax revenue in their state. They won't accept an utility company that is headquartered in another state.

I brought up Nevada because it has a very low business tax. Of course any CEO worth his salt would want to headquarter in Nevada, as opposed to California, or any other state with punitive business taxes.

I brought up my personal beliefs because I feel some on here have painted me as some loon. I am an environmentalist, maybe of a different stripe than some of you. I grew up in the woods, on the lakes and streams. My parents taught me how fragile and beautiful all life is. This is the reason that I won't accept the excuse that a couple of million bird deaths are no big deal, as long as the energy is "clean".

[ericsvibe]

I live close to an old Lead smelter plant that went bankrupt. The EPA has spent 10's of millions of dollars remediating the area. It will take at least another 10 years of work to clean up the area, all paid for by U.S. taxpayers. The land the old plant was on is now completely worthless and will never be used for anything.

[DCforever]

Originally Posted by Philip T

Yeah, that was what I am heading towards, as well.

So I am pondering from the peanuts gallery to yell why it cannot be so.

(see, while we may think some of these guys "out-there" you can learn a LOT from opponents, if you choose to. Did you do OPFOR in the Navy? We (Army) were really big into that back in the day.)

Like I was mumbling just above -- if it goes too fast, and Coal and Nukes go bankrupt -- who will pay to clean up the Old stuff?

Nukes all have decommissioning funds for cleanup decommissioning. Independent Power Coal Plants could be an issue.

[GregW]

Just to complicate the issue I believe ALL electrical utilities should be Federally owned and operated like the TVA and BPA. Privately owned utilities are just a safe investment that protects the shareholders at the expense of the customers.