White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Ok, this seems to be an echo from the Solar Initiative over in CA ...

Move over, Jersey tomatoes. Some innovative New Jersey farmers are producing a new crop: energy.

The farmers are putting solar-power systems over barn roofs and fields to make electricity for their homes, farm buildings and irrigation systems while reducing pollution with a clean, renewable energy source.

A further lure for the farmers is a program that uses state rebates, credits and investment money to cover all the upfront costs of the expensive solar-power systems, including maintenance. The program also guarantees farmers at least 10 percent savings on their electric bills.

Well damn. Now how about trying this with the Morty Q Public home owners of the world? Eh? If these things last for any length of time we would not have all these brown-outs that we have become so fond of during the Sizzling Sultry Summers.

Lee, who last fall became the first New Jersey farmer to get a solar-power system under the project, said that on sunny days, his system produced more energy than he used.

"What I don't use goes back through my line and into the public grid, and I get credit for it," he said. "It makes a lot of sense."

Lee had his system installed on a barn roof that faces south, where it captures the most sunlight and shades the roof, keeping the turkeys inside cooler during the summer.

Heh ... turkeys and chickens have the poorest heat management systems of all domesticated livestock. But back to what he said, yeah, it makes a LOT of sense. Here is the kicker though:

The partnership uses rebates from the state Board of Public Utilities' Office of Clean Energy to cover about half the systems' costs, said Pamela Frank, Sun Farm's director of marketing and public relations. Under a second state program to promote clean energy, credits called renewable-energy certificates for the solar power the farmers produce are sold to utilities or companies wanting to support renewable energy.

In Lee's case, Frank said, the combined financial incentives covered about two-thirds of the $386,000 cost of his system and his 20-year maintenance contract with Sun Farm. Credits for the solar power he produces will pay off the balance on his system over 20 years. The system could last 40 years.

UGH! Okay, I'll assume he had a MAJOR system installed for that kind of crushing debt to make sense. It still set him back $130K for something that will only be maintained for 20 years and probably is going to require a bit of TLC after the hail storms ... and snow ... and high winds. It seems that the average Joe will have little access to this 'Greenhouse Gas/Global Warming/Energy efficient' technological wonder unless they are rolling in cash. Now if you could buy plug-n-play replacement panels at the local Home Depot Temple ...