Got to pondering.......

rrlund

Well-known Member
So I was watching a show on History Channel,or Discovery,somethig like that,about the Jack Daniels Distilery. They spent one whole segment telling about the barrel factory in Louisville. Said it was completely powered by scrap wood and sawdust.
Then on my way to Greenville,I was watching the new power poles along the road from the substation to the new solar plant where they make solar panels that produce electricity. Do you see where I'm going with this? If those things work,why aren't they powering the plant with them,saving all that cost of buying electricity and in turn,selling more solar panels by cutting their production costs??? It's not like they needed the power from the power company to start making the panels,they already had a plant producing them near Detroit. They could have made enough of them there couldn't they?
Unless they're just some novelty that are only fit for lighting a few flourecent lights? Nah,they must work. So why the new power lines feeding power in?
 
Got my doubts. I don't even see any panels outside the factory. Don't know if they even use them to light the flourecent lights on the sign on the front of the building.
 

Solar costs more to install than it can make in electricity, hence the gubmit grants to get people to buy it.
 
had a large wind power developer in front of the planning commission a couple hours north of you, admit that it wasn't about harvesting wind, but harvesting tax credits. if it makes money i guess its a bonus. -john-
 
Had a friend call at almost 10 o'clock the other night. He'd just gotten home from a meeting and was all wound up. He's trying to stop them from coming in to Allegan County.
 
Don't know how well they work, but IF they work well, and they had a bunch installed at the plant, they could be selling the excess power to the power company, hence the power line.
That's a longshot, and I doubt thats whats going on...
Just throwin it out there...
 
The wind doesn"t blow but maybe 50% of the time and it isn"t consistent and the sun doesn"t shine all the time. Really wouldn"t help light a sign if it is dark out or the wind isn"t blowing. Have to have a nuclear or fossil fuel plant to cover those times. Really a no win situation except for the government grants or subsidies.
 
Remember, we live in Michigan. At times, we don't see the sun for weeks. I used to go to the GM foundry in Defiance, Ohio. First time I drove down, I asked for directions, my coworker told me - " just follow the power lines". Sure enough, 2 transmission lines dead end at the foundry. The lines run for miles along the Maumee river. I was told that the one plant accounted for over 10% of GM's electric bill.
 
That's my point. My son in law is plant manager at an auto parts plant. The electric bill in that place is near half a million dollars a month. You'd think if those panels worked at all,the whole industrial park where the solar plant is located woult be covered with them. Can you imagine even saving 25% on a bill like that?
 
Not quite sure I understand the discussion but I used solar power for my sailboat may days when we didn't run the engine and founf it very reliable even on cloudy days. Small application from small panels but as I was driving around in extreme western North Carolina where I* have a home, I saw AT LEAST 8 SOLAR installations usually very close to or adjacent to substations owned by TVA. Dont know who they belong to but evidentl7y someone in investing heavily in solar power in NC and Northern GA.
 
Just makes me wonder why the people who make them aren't using them? You'd think they could be their own best example of cost savings if they really were for something more than tax credits,government grants and political grandstanding.
 

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