Washington Utility Proves Home Solar and Wind Too Pricey?
The Northwestern plains are widely considered to have the best conditions for wind power in the US. But a fourteen month pilot project at Inland Power and Light, in Spokane, Washington, set up to compare solar and wind installations proved surprising. The solar panels produced about five times as much power per dollar as the wind turbines.
“Solar,” Richard Damiano, the utility’s chief engineer told the The Spokesman-Review “is trouncing wind.”
The utility set up a “bank of solar panels” and “a 35 foot wind turbine” as an experiment to show which was better, in order to help their customers decide what to install on (or near) their homes.
The experiment indicates that for a similar investment of about $23,000 in Washington state, solar produces five times as much power as wind. The solar panels produced 15% of the electricity of the average home, according to the utility. The wind turbine would produce only 3%.
However, the article does not note the actual power rating power rating of either the “bank of solar panels” or the “35 foot wind turbine.” As a result, it is impossible to check that the comparison is actually kilowatts-to-kilowatts.
But what struck me was how poorly both did. Almost unbelievable.
If the utility’s figures are accurate, after spending $23,000, less than 15% of the electricity could be supplied???
To a Californian like me these figures look unbelievably low. Our own house is producing solar at 6 cents a kilowatt hour, averaged over the 36 year life of the array. We got a SunRun PPA (power purchase agreement) at a guaranteed rate of 12 cents a kwh for 18 years including inverter replacement (and then you keep the system after that for free).
For $10,000, 80% of the electricity our house needs – 550 kwh a month – and maintenance, replacement and inverter replacement – are covered by a 3.15 KW array. (We chose to pay all 18 years of the PPA upfront, because we wanted to have no ongoing bills at all, but most people choose to spread out the PPA payments like with an utility electric bill.)
Since our solar will continue to produce free electricity after that for at least another 18 years, that averages to 6 cents a kwh, if you average the production for just a 36 year life.
I am at a loss for why their results are so different. Spokane, Washington has only half an hour less insolation a day than California. The same 30% Federal tax credit is available. Perhaps it is that California is one of nine or ten states where renewable energy companies like SunRun and SolarCity are allowed to compete with electric utilities for your business.
With such an exorbitant cost in Washington for such a miniscule fraction of the average electric bill, It would be interesting to get another pilot study, that is not run by a utility.
Image: Travelpod
SusanKraemer@Twitter
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