The cost of PV power today can’t be expected to compete with decades-old polluting power sources. But its advantages in scalability (down to homes and cars), emissions (zero), reliability (no moving parts), distribution (Sun shines everywhere at no cost) and availability (billions of years from solar fusion) will trounce any other energy source. In time there will be economies of scale and new research (e.g. quantum dots) leading to a mature, competitive, worldwide PV industry.

Before that I paid an average of $1,500-$2,000 per year for electricity. The system cost about $16,000 ($26,000 without rebates, etc). It will generate $45,000 to $60,000 of electricity over its 30 year warranteed life, and that’s assuming rates don’t increase at all over 30 years.

I am in the process of upgrading to solar heating which I expect will eliminate most of my gas bill as well.

The technology required to generate your own power is available, and it works great. I recommend solar electric to anybody who lives in a sunny climate. As unit costs decrease and installation becomes more plug and play, roofing contractors will get into this business, and adding electricity to your roof will become a no-brainer.

Photovoltaic solar cells are far less costly to maintain than many other power generating means, as the repairs are very modest incremental costs and despite claims to the contrary, are easy to repair if needed.

Photovoltaics also have a rather simplified power circuitry and generating means, also making this less complex than other power systems. Simplicity makes it easy for smaller scale deployments and in no way detracts from advantages for large scale deployments. There is an advantage in easy incremental scaling.

Sorry it is less impressive than a coal fired power plant, a hydroelectric dam, or a nuclear plant, but solar PV power generation works and works well, it is just not absolute lowest apparent cost. (environmental burdens are hidden costs of many other sources of power)

Granted photovoltaics are not the cheapest means to generate power from sunlight, nor are they likely to become so just yet, as solar thermal / electric power generation seems to have a present lock in the ultimate in low cost solar generated electric power.

Yet there do not seem to be readily available small scale consumer / household solutions using solar thermal electric power generation, and this is largely due to a higher maintenance overhead compared to the non moving parts found in photovoltaics.

But in larger power installations, the mechanics(read maintenance issues) in solar thermal electric power generation are well justified – as in a size of scale for solar small to medium farms, or larger grid scale deployments. Quite attractive really.

As to solar power never being able to become cost competitive, I suspect solar thermal electric power generation is already there, or if not, is very close to cost of power of other grid scale generation, albeit that larger scale solar thermal electric deployments are rare so far.

In time, this is likely to change due to the attractive aspects of solar thermal electric power generation.

For further meaty explanations on solar thermal electric power technology, as a start please visit these 2 web sites :

http://www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/
http://www.nrel.gov/csp/

for some excellent information sources, albeit not restricted to electrical power generation alone.

Lastly there is the mother of all heliostat web pages

http://www.redrok.com/main.htm,

which covers all manner of information sources in solar collectors (not only for electrical power, but cogen and just thermal heating of even hot water) both small scale and large scale, with a bent towards the homebrewed small scale.

Solar photovoltaic power generation is practical now, albeit looming technology improvements of all kinds – cost reduction, and efficiency increases, will deepen photovoltaics market penetration, and solar thermal power will be heard of considerably more in the near future, due to its present large lead in cost effectiveness over photovoltaics.

Moreover, for simplicity in rooftop commercial peak rate abatement, both photovoltaics, and solar thermal electric power generation are practical now with PG&E’s and other California Electric utility peak rates.

Even large scale batteries can arbitrage off peak to peak rates by nitetime charging for commercial buildings, albeit not best with lead acid batteries, and without advantages of going green…

Mr. Benson, as to implicitly hinting that nuclear is lowest cost, (or lowest maintenance costs) by your web site name, there are many hidden burdens that the taxpayer is hit with, that do not make your “inuclear” solution so appealing as you might seem to hint at.

Cleaner, less toxic and less risky technologies have their advantages which you are too quick to dismiss. Nuclear power electricity generation will and can improve, but so far the improvements are a tad far off relative to the ease of implementing solar power on modest but large scale.

Unless you happen to have the few $B in your back pocket, and a handy lead lined waste disposal location in your living room?

“People in the electric power distribution industry…those who actually know what’s going with the electrical grid…actually laugh out loud when anybody mentions solar.”

The reason that most people in the electric power industry “laugh out loud” is that they do not have a clue about alternatives, and have livelihoods that are highly dependent on the status quo. This is a basic case of FUD being generated by the guys in power. I guess I would do the same thing if I were in your position…

Best,

Bud