How about using other peoples rooftops for a reduction in their electricity bill? All excess power you can sell as a utility company. You pay for the install, they get reduced rates and you sell the extra. After you show a profit offer home energy audits and help them reduce usage, thus increasing sellable energy.
Starting Your Own Utility Company
- Thread starter NorbH
- Start date
You might want to look at how it's being done in Maine, for both good and bad aspects of something similar to what you want to do. A few years ago the state allowed community solar farms, and set the price at which utilities must buy back the power, tying it to the price of natural gas. The thinking was that this would encourage a move away from NG-fueled electricity production, to solar, because NG produces the vast majority of our electricity in all of New England. Basically, a for-profit company installs a large solar production "farm" on several acres of land, and then sells "shares" in the farm to consumers or businesses. In many cases, when you sign up with the farm, the solar farm company pays your electric bill and then charges you the difference between what the farm produced in the previous month and your monthly utility charge, keeping a percentage of the value of that production as their profit (so you don't really pay anything upfront when you "buy in"). You can usually save about 10-15% on your monthly bill, as each home/business is limited in how much of the farm you can buy, and each location (e.g., home) can buy into only one farm. There's currently a waiting list for almost every (maybe all) new farms being built. We save about 10% off the monthly bill at my wife's small studio/shop, the first of our properties to have a farm come online.
HOWEVER... There are downsides...
First, it turns out tying the price utilities pay for the solar to the price of natural gas isn't the best idea when the price of NG skyrockets, as it has in recent years. It's great for the solar farms and those already part of a producing farm, but because there's a waiting list for those wanting to join, it's actually adding to the pain of much higher electric prices for everyone, caused by the spike in the price of NG-produced electricity. Most Mainers are paying about 29.7 cents US total per kwh for residential electricity production and delivery, and that will remain above at least 28 cents for the next year, in part due to the price of that solar production. Ouch! This is a near-daily topic in state newspapers, and the legislature is trying to adjust things to make all parties happy. As one might expect, now no one's really happy and it's a four-way argument between utility companies, solar farm companies, politicians, and consumers. Yippee...
There are also many who don't like the aesthetics of big fields being jam-packed with solar panels. Honestly, they're not the most beautiful things, compared to the fields of hay or some other crop that once grew there, and we now have a LOT of solar farms dotting the landscape, right next to the busiest highways, with more under construction. Some hunters and wildlife advocates have also complained about these farms as well, a big issue in one of the few states where people are allowed to freely roam any land that is not specifically posted to prohibit access, and where hunting, fishing, and hiking are a big part of the culture. I net out on the side of having the farms, but even as a solar advocate I'd rather see panels on rooftops than in so, so, so many fields.
Bottom line - Our state is doing much of what you describe, but like most things, it's far from perfect. As noted, I net out being in favor of it because it's the practical alternative to the use of fossil fuels, which we must sharply curtail. But you surely don't want to tie rates directly to the price of your current major fuel for electricity production, and you likely need to be prepared to lose some beautiful fields, hearing much protest (generally justified) about this. Life is all about tradeoffs.
HOWEVER... There are downsides...
First, it turns out tying the price utilities pay for the solar to the price of natural gas isn't the best idea when the price of NG skyrockets, as it has in recent years. It's great for the solar farms and those already part of a producing farm, but because there's a waiting list for those wanting to join, it's actually adding to the pain of much higher electric prices for everyone, caused by the spike in the price of NG-produced electricity. Most Mainers are paying about 29.7 cents US total per kwh for residential electricity production and delivery, and that will remain above at least 28 cents for the next year, in part due to the price of that solar production. Ouch! This is a near-daily topic in state newspapers, and the legislature is trying to adjust things to make all parties happy. As one might expect, now no one's really happy and it's a four-way argument between utility companies, solar farm companies, politicians, and consumers. Yippee...
There are also many who don't like the aesthetics of big fields being jam-packed with solar panels. Honestly, they're not the most beautiful things, compared to the fields of hay or some other crop that once grew there, and we now have a LOT of solar farms dotting the landscape, right next to the busiest highways, with more under construction. Some hunters and wildlife advocates have also complained about these farms as well, a big issue in one of the few states where people are allowed to freely roam any land that is not specifically posted to prohibit access, and where hunting, fishing, and hiking are a big part of the culture. I net out on the side of having the farms, but even as a solar advocate I'd rather see panels on rooftops than in so, so, so many fields.
Bottom line - Our state is doing much of what you describe, but like most things, it's far from perfect. As noted, I net out being in favor of it because it's the practical alternative to the use of fossil fuels, which we must sharply curtail. But you surely don't want to tie rates directly to the price of your current major fuel for electricity production, and you likely need to be prepared to lose some beautiful fields, hearing much protest (generally justified) about this. Life is all about tradeoffs.
Nobodybusiness
Collecting the leftovers of the Great Sky Reactor.
A group of us here are looking to establish Solar communities.Hey folks,
what would one need to do to run his/her own utility company or at least sell to an established one at a grid scale?
Background
I'm quite interested in the renewables/energy transition/recycling thing but found it very hard to make a meaningful contribution. Flying less, eating less meat, driving e-cars all make sense but they don't really move the needle. I want not only feel good but actually make a measurable contribution - this is way harder than I thought.
The Idea
Buy a plot of land and then incrementally increase the number of panels/inverters and sell the produced energy into the grid.
Sounds simple, but it probably isn't
Hurdles
When it comes to hurdles, I can think of a couple... the list surely isn't exhaustive.
- Legal (Permits, Contracts with other utilities, Liability, …)
- Land purchase (Location, Size)
- System Dimensions (Surely grid-scale has a relatively high minimum size)
- Financial (Even the smallest scale probably costs several 100k$)
Has this ever been done from scratch? Have you heard/read/seen a similar project in the US recently?
Develop the land with a dedicated solar field just for community usage.
It becomes a huge hassle when you start trying to tie into the grid and resale.
Sounds interesting - any particular plans already? I'd like to learn more...
Nobodybusiness
Collecting the leftovers of the Great Sky Reactor.
Pretty simple at first.
20 Small purpose built enclosures.
600 SqFt with carports.
Mitsubishi mini splits.
Induction cooktops
Microwave
Standard LED Lights.
Setup more as extended stay Motels rather than rentals to avoid certain problems with renters.
Starting with 10 acres as Proof of concept.
Central generation building and distribution.
Generation isn’t hard.
Still trying to figure out distribution equipment.
The rent covers utilities in this case.
Municipal water/Sewer.
If this works out then we will move to individually owned houses.
Still trying to figure out how to setup usage/billing for that.
Need to be able to maintain, service, replace equipment as needed and still provide constant electricity to a highly variable load we can’t control.
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