20 Megawatts

It is raining here in Los Angeles this evening.  The skies clouded up at dusk, building into a solid grey overcast, and now we are getting it.

Odd, then, that I should be telling you about a milestone in clean energy our family reached not long ago.  

We passed 20,000 kilowatt-hours of power generated by solar panels we installed back in 2003.

That's 20 megawatts we've poured into the 'grid' that otherwise wouldn't have been there.  Useful, stuff, especially if more people were doing it.

But there is a catch.  It's expensive.   And even though we generated all that power, we may never see the cost of the system paid back.  That's because our Department of Water and Power (DWP) charges a minimum fee for connection to the grid.  Even in months where we generate more power than we use, giving the DWP extra energy to sell, we end up paying for the privilege.

Of course, our monthly energy costs are lower than they would be without the system.  The power generated in excess of what we use goes into the grid and as it does it spins our electrical meter backwards, taking power off the scale.  That energy 'credit' helps keep the electric portion of our energy bill manageable.

Still, if Governor Schwarzenegger wants his 'million solar roofs' dream to succeed, he'll need to create incentives that work.  That will mean battling both the greed of the private utilities and the sluggish bureaucracy of the public ones (like our DWP).  Rebates must be offered and paid promptly (ours still hasn't been - after 5  years), and there should be no such thing as paying to provide power.  If you generate more than you use, then you should pay nothing - or maybe get paid for the excess (but let's not hope for too much).

Economic snafus aside, though, it feels good knowing we are helping...

Every little megawatt counts!