As a lurker, this thread is pretty interesting. I work in home efficiency on the east coast and it's pretty intriguing hearing the ideas on renewables coming from the west coast market we green folk consider the holy grail.
I don't exactly see the opposition to net metering. If your connected to the grid and have a base rate that pays for maintenance, even if you're not using it, then why would you not want the opportunity to sell your product / excess energy? Why is my kwh worth any less than theirs?
yes, that does lead to potentially overloading the grid as seen in hawaii. some places were / still are requiring permits for solar installations even for residential. Hopefully, we can develop a method for large scale energy storage... batteries can be mechanical or chemical too. Duracell : chemical, hoover dam : mechanical, hydrogen : ?
That being said, current deep cycle batteries for residential battery based systems suck. Expensive, heavy as shiat, have a limited lifespan, and require more components and maintenance (something that can fudge the less tech savy owner). I'm not for battery based at all right now. this is the area that really needs work, but tesla is on to some interesting stuff developing a home battery that can accept about any voltage/amperage thus eliminating need for charge controllers and high capacity inverters...
As far as the fires go... solar panels will not catch on fire. Shitty wiring could certainly cause a spark and trigger a blaze, but a solar panel sitting on top of your roof ain't gonna do nothing. They are not immune to the laws of physics and science. I've ta'd for a class teaching photovoltaics; for a demonstration I personally went outside during peak sun, disconnected our six panel string from the combiner box, and stuck the positive lead in my mouth. Nothing. Current will not flow = no chance of short if there is no circuit.
"A tree falling is louder than the forest growing" is perfect in identifying the case with bad roof racking installs. Putting penetrations in your roof is never a good idea UNLESS you know what your doing with proper flashing, sealing, etc. Penetrations lead to potential moisture issues and I could see how fire could be attracted to thsee areas (fire code??) There's bad installs done by bad installers, hopefully they dont ruin the market and understand the critical need for quality , especially in there field right now.
For the payback, if my calcs are correct...a $12000 4.5 kwh non-battery grid tied system (yes, that is very real figure including install, racking, components, wiring, etc.) with a 30% federal rebate = $8400. If power rate is $0.12/ kwh and you see 5 hrs of peak sun a day then you should pay back the system in just over 8.5 years. I'm sure your rates are higher on the west coast and sure there is some sort of local and/or state incentive as well. This is also not factoring in if you are allowed to sell back your excess energy... not too bad to me considering many panels have 20 year /80% eff warranties.
Shading and disproportionate efficiency loss... yep that's a big issue, but don't put em in the shade! Or break out the clippers! My bud works for a commercial installer over here and they are working with a company that has developed a roll-on application that sees a directly proportionate efficiency loss compared to the area shaded..
The birds on fire... yea that's an issue for the commercial solar thermal. Cool technology though. 392 MW Field of mirrors in the mojave concentrating death/light beams on tower to heat up molten sodium to create steam for turbine.... sodium has such high specific heat that it can create pressurized steam throughout the night... pretty cool if you ask me. Bird deaths were actually due to attracting bugs, their food. Still an issue for sure.
Main thing for me is this a job creating industry. Why fight innovation, the inevitable, and a way of lowering power costs for everyone including industrial/commercial sector (=cheaper stuff)? Not to mention geopolitical effects...