I almost invested in a solar-for-sale project on my property in Ontario Canada, which at the time meant that everything I produced could be pumped into the grid and I would receive payment for my investment at the end of each month.
My own electrical needs could either be tapped-off what I was producing privately, the remainder being sent on to the grid, or I had the option of purchasing ALL of my electricity from the grid and paying the rack-rate just like everyone else was doing. The only difference was, I could generate more solar energy than I could use myself, therefore I could still make a modest sum of money even after deducting what I would spend by purchasing my electricity separately and paying the rack-rate.
Despite the electrical constraints on an already obsolete hydro-electric system and associated grid network which originates in Niagara Falls Ontario Canada, the electricity provider got it's back up when private citizens were making money from producing solar energy with no investment in the grid itself, such as the wires and wooden poles that obscure our otherwise pristine landscape.
As well, a phenomenon called 'brown outs' would occur in the summer months when everyone used too much electricity, which was basically the sudden dimming of lights when you needed them most or electric clothes dryers suddenly taking twice as long to dry a load in the middle of the afternoon compared to at night.
Yet despite those so-called 'brown outs' occurring at peak times, the government in their infinite wisdom, decided that the electric utility monopoly was correct in their assessment and concluded as well that private citizens were making way too much money producing solar electricity, those same private citizens having invested nothing at all in the grid itself beyond their property boundary.
So, the government cancelled the incentive program for private citizens to generate solar energy to be sold to the grid, even after many people had invested close to half the value of their house in the government sponsored solar-for-sale initiative in Ontario.
Problem is, these rather large solar investments which were mounted on roof tops and set up as free-standing sun-seeking solar platforms, produced more power than the average household could ever hope to use in a month as the sun kept producing solar energy endlessly. Those same solar investments on rooftops however, did not ever come equipped with storage batteries to collect the solar power as it was being produced, because the solar energy through design was intended to be immediately sent out to the grid the moment it was produced. In other words, the grid itself became the 'storage facility' for all the solar power that was being produced.
With no home ever being equipped with solar batteries to store the solar power during the original installation however, it meant that using one's own solar energy could only happen in daylight hours but not at night! What this meant was an even further investment in solar storage batteries which amounts to about 25% of the value of the average house in Ontario...
At the end of the day, the homeowner who made the solar investment in good faith, was actually paying double for electricity as a result of now owning a depreciating investment on their rooftop, than they would have paid had they purchased ALL of their electricity throughout any given day at peak electricity rates, regardless of their time-of-use being day or night!
So yes, I love solar energy too, but I'll give you a heads up after I've figured out how to do this without having to reinvent the wheel just to keep the lights on and the clothes drying without involving the government!
