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Wow, solar power is on it's way...Great article, we need more solar power around the globe...



http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-electricity-solar/



"On 14 days during March, Arizona utilities got a gift from California: free solar power.

Well, actually better than free. California produced so much solar power on those days that it paid Arizona to take excess electricity its residents weren’t using to avoid overloading its own power lines.

It happened on eight days in January and nine in February as well. All told, those transactions helped save Arizona electricity customers millions of dollars this year, though grid operators declined to say exactly how much. And California also has paid other states to take power..."

With all this "free" electricity being generated, how come California has some of the highest per kwh prices in the union?  Give me old school cheap as chips coal fired power any day.  It keeps the lights on rain hail or shine and as a bonus it feeds the plants!

I rather have nuclear power than the two.  Yeah the waste is problem but it does job better. 


Something is wrong because PG&E didn't make any changes.  We still have the tier system.  I would pay .4cent per kwh on last tier.

lol exactly - i would like to know why the fuck i'm paying $0.32/kWh please.

We did just buy solar, but 10Kw system really isn't going to offset much, probably only about 3 hours of use a day?

I agree with that. It should reduce the electricity price.

The extra power should have been sold to AZ at a discount...do you think the federal government should step in and regulate...


I'm against more "regulation" in general, but there should be a distribution structure setup for the nation...anyone remember Enron...

 Between the Bonneville Power Authority and the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Feds are already TOO INVOLVED in power generation and sales.

 (along with smaller government-run power generation groups).

 At least the local COUNTY-level PUDs are responsive to their local customers....

We are still highest at .4 kwh on the highest tier.  They should focus on power delivery within the state instead of helping other states.  This isnt right at all.  Where is the extra money going to? 

A fair bit of the "extra money" California pays in power rates goes to transport FUEL to the state to run it's power generation.
 Keep in mind that Cali has pretty close to ZERO in-state natural gas or coal production, and oil has been in decline for power generation for decades due to VERY HIGH cost (California DOES have significant oil production).

A LOT of it pays for the crazy level of environmental restrictions ON power generation in the state.
 Keep in mind that a lot of environmental restrictions (like on auto exhaust) came about first in California then got adopted nationwide a few years to a decade later.

Quite a bit of it pays for importing power from areas that have excess Hydropower (some of THAT comes from MY P.U.D. in central Washington State) and the transportation costs to do so - and is probably the LOWEST cost power that Pacific Gas and Electric has access to despite the cost of transporting it.

A lot of it goes to pay the higher taxes California imposes on almost everything vs almost every other state.

A lot of it goes to fund Solar and Wind power farms - which are NOT competative with coal or natural gas in MOST states but actually are in California due to the very high power rates.

A lot of it goes to pay for the COOLING WATER power plants need, one way or another.

Ah ok.  Arizona shouldn't get a discount then.  lol

I have heard that solar panels loose allot of efficiency in high temperatures, over 95 deg. F

This article said that they PAID Arizona to take the extra power...