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The Forum > Article Comments > Five fatal flaws of solar energy > Comments

Five fatal flaws of solar energy : Comments

By Viv Forbes, published 25/7/2014

All consumers should be free to use solar energy in their own way at their own cost.

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FWIW I've had PV since 2005 and thanks to feed-in tariffs I can avoid power bills for 9 months at a stretch. The problem is when the FiT stops in 2019. I also make a lot of my own car fuel from used frying oil and cook on a wood stove. However I can see that won't work for most people in the suburbs.

Solar thermal with molten salt storage is up to six times as expensive as electricity from already built coal fired power stations. See BREE's Australian Energy Technology Assessments. Solar thermal may also require a gas boost on short winter days or during prolonged rain. It is not a serious coal replacement.
Posted by Taswegian, Friday, 25 July 2014 5:13:10 PM
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I have to say that Robert LePage come across as a paid flack for {big mining}, for the solar rip off merchants who want billions in subsidies from the long suffering taxpayer, to keep their garbage on the market.

Why is it you flack in the ratbag green movement can't talk facts?

What right do you have to assume that those who don't agree with you have to be paid to do so? I guess when you have no logical argument, you are reduced to such name calling. It does scream I an a knowledge free zone you know.

I have yet to see anything sensible in a post of yours, so I have no trouble disagreeing with you for free.

At least you offer a bit of light relief when you post.
Posted by Hasbeen, Friday, 25 July 2014 5:57:21 PM
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I can give you one....but we don't wish to insult you:)

Tally
Posted by Tally, Friday, 25 July 2014 6:13:30 PM
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First floor
“sunshine at any spot is always intermittent “
Solar panels can only deliver significant energy from 9am to 3pm

So what I don’t use a great deal of power in the middle of the night
Industry use most power between 9am to 3pm

Second floor
“Secondly, to be a stand-alone energy supplier, PV solar needs batteries”

Nobody is suggesting it should be, it should be part of a range of renewables such as
Hydro, wind, solar thermal, tidal, and a good many other possibilities.

Third floor
“Thirdly, solar energy is very dilute, so huge areas of land are needed to collect industrial quantities of energy”

If all the houses in Australia used ¼ of their roof space for PV panels it would produce 35% of our electrical needs. That’s according to my calculation. I couldn’t find a figure for the total roof space including factories sheds offices etc. so I left it out. We don’t need any extra land.

Fourth floor
“The fourth fatal flaw of solar energy is the pernicious effect of the dramatic fluctuations in supply.”

That wouldn’t be like the way everybody suddenly turns their air conditioners at the same time causing a spike in power demand. Shedding power is easier than meeting a sudden spike in demand.

Fifth floor
“Fifthly, large-scale solar power will create environmental damage over large areas of land”

You mean like the cities we have already built?

Your house of cards just fell down all five stories of it.
Posted by warmair, Friday, 25 July 2014 9:51:07 PM
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Taswegian, at present, we are receiving a generous 44c per KW fed into the grid. So in fact, taking before tax dollars into the equation, we are actually receiving aout 50cents.

Now, if governments (in QLD) do break the long term contracts, my back up plan will be to install a battery bank, along with a high output electric charger. Then, rather than sell my power for 5.5c, I will use it to charge my batteries, which will then power my house during the rest of the day.

So, although I may loose my feed in credits, my power will be next to free, so either way I win.

I never for one minute expected the high feed in offers to continue, but, I would also suggest that should these contracts be broken, you may well see a huge class action by those who loose their guarantees.
Posted by rehctub, Saturday, 26 July 2014 8:43:10 AM
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rehctub I should introduce you to my brother in law, an engineer, but of the practical type. He has recently moved onto a property he bought in the backblocks of Wyong. This was after about 10 years of living on one out from Upper Colo.

When asked, he admitted the commute was worse, but it had one main advantage. It is in the mains grid, & he can now get the hell away from solar panels, generating plants, & most of all supplying a home with batteries.

He reckons if he never again sees a battery in anything but a car or a boat, he'll be a happy man.

Of, when we moved ashore from the yacht to a "proper house", my 3.5 year old daughter, who had lived on the boat all her life wanted to know, "daddy, will our new house have real [elec]tricity, or will we still have the Mickey Mouse stuff like the boat"? Out of the mouth of babes.
Posted by Hasbeen, Saturday, 26 July 2014 11:29:45 AM
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