Why not lease the city’s rooftops to Dominion for solar panels? Uh…because Dominion’s not in the solar power business? Who’s the wise guy at the DP who thought there was a story here? #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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It’s more likely (at least for now, until we can get a real Renewable Portfolio Standard in place in Virginia) that a private, third-party firm would lease the rooftop space(s) than Dominion, and then take advantage of federal tax credits to generate electricity that consumers could purchase. I’d bet you that a sufficient number of property owners in the City would jump at the chance to buy clean, renewable, locally-generated energy, even at a higher rate.
I thought there was a local business (Keswick area?) that does exactly this. I’d particularly love it at our nine schools.
I’d take that bet. :)
I don’t see how. Dominion doesn’t actually pay you for generating power, they just give you a credit on your bill. So, fine, you set up a bunch of solar panels — the best you’ll get is a $0 bill for power for the month. A bill passed the General Assembly last year that will have Dominion pay the standard rate for that power (an average of $0.061/kWh), but that’s way, way undervalued. People will clearly pay more for clean power, as Dave points out. The numbers just aren’t there.
An average American house would need a 10-kilowatt solar array to meet its electricity needs. The rough cost of this system is around $100,000. The value of the electricity produced by this system over a year, at Dominion’s rate ($.o61/kwh), would be $900.
Who would want to make this kind of investment, and pay to rent rooftop space? Dominion will go buy more wind before it buys solar.
To make this work, I think this is what would need to happen:
If the city would decide to pay for half of all solar arrays, an investor/third party would only need to pay $50G’s for the above solar system. Also, if the person who owns the roof agrees to buy the solar electricity for a price 5 times higher then Dominion’s rate, then the investor who installs the solar energy system on the rooftop, will recover their money after ~11 years.
There are a lot of “if’s” in this scenario.
Solar electricity will become more feasible when:
-nonrenewable electricity rates go up
-silicon becomes cheaper
-more state and local tax credits are available