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The Berkeley hills go dark and residents step up to help one another (liberal paradise alert)
Berkeleyside ^ | 10/10/2019 | Kate Darby Rauch, Frances Dinkelspiel

Posted on 10/12/2019 9:11:09 AM PDT by simpson96

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To: Vaquero

The really funny irony here is the disconnect between promises and reality with all these solar installations.

The original off the grid solar panel array would give you power during a blackout. The majority of California solar panel installations are with the new scheme to take advantage of renewable energy mandates and rebates. These systems deliver solar power to the grid, and the house draws power from the grid. When the power gird is down, you have no power though you have solar panels on your roof.

SunRun said they have hundreds of thousands of customers but “hundreds” paid thousands for the extra batteries and wiring to actually have power from the sun when the grid is down.


21 posted on 10/12/2019 11:20:38 AM PDT by tbw2
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To: Dilbert San Diego

You can set up a generator that will work with your solar system.


22 posted on 10/12/2019 11:26:33 AM PDT by notpoliticallycorewrecked (Will the last responsible person leaving California, please turn out the lights.)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Do? Install a switch to connect house power directly to solar.


23 posted on 10/12/2019 11:28:10 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Specialization is for insects.)
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To: simpson96

Berkeley Going GREEN!!


24 posted on 10/12/2019 11:28:42 AM PDT by eyeamok
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To: simpson96

My leftist neighbors have solar powered accent lights outside.

Just lift off a light and you have the equivalent of a candle.


25 posted on 10/12/2019 11:30:01 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: notpoliticallycorewrecked

“You can set up a generator that will work with your solar system.”

About how much is a Sol/Alpha-Centauri adapter?


26 posted on 10/12/2019 11:30:53 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: tbw2

“When the power gird is down, you have no power though you have solar panels on your roof.”

Can’t just turning off the main breaker give enough power for the lights and a computer during the daytime?


27 posted on 10/12/2019 11:32:28 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Dilbert San Diego

I believe that you can create a solar system for your house that is not tied to the grid at all. I also believe you can create a solar system that is tied to the grid but can be disconnected. Moral of the story, never create a system that is permanently tied to the grid.


28 posted on 10/12/2019 11:34:30 AM PDT by rcofdayton
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To: simpson96

“PG&E cut the power off to millions in the state as a preventative measure”

Some people believe that PG&E cut the power off to millions in the state as a punitive measure.


29 posted on 10/12/2019 11:34:40 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: fruser1

Don’t know. Hubby is an electrical/electronic genius type so he creates his own systems.

He had a generator backup system that switched over with a flip of a switch before we had solar. Once we got solar he was working on a new system to include the solar, but never got that far because we decided to relocate from the state of Confusion. (We are so happy we did).

Our next house will have solar, a generator and connected to the grid.


30 posted on 10/12/2019 12:01:52 PM PDT by notpoliticallycorewrecked (Will the last responsible person leaving California, please turn out the lights.)
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To: simpson96
...waiting for the bus.

An electric one? Uh, oh.

31 posted on 10/12/2019 12:02:29 PM PDT by Libloather (CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE!)
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To: Brian Griffin

A lot of them have safety systems to prevent someone being electrocuted by routing the power back through the house. After all, they don’t have DC to AC converters or other hardware to connect their home equipment to run off the solar panels.


32 posted on 10/12/2019 1:08:31 PM PDT by tbw2
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To: simpson96

“The Berkeley hills go dark and residents step up to help one another”

Excuse me, do you have any Grey Poupon to share?


33 posted on 10/12/2019 2:39:37 PM PDT by LeoTDB69
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To: Mouton

I was living in San Jose during that fire.
It really shook up the Bay Area and only 2 years after the ‘89 earthquake


34 posted on 10/12/2019 10:45:49 PM PDT by Zathras
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To: notpoliticallycorewrecked

I like that!
“State of Confusion”


35 posted on 10/12/2019 10:47:53 PM PDT by Zathras
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To: tbw2
The current push for more solar panels is driven mainly by mandates on utilities to meet X percentage of power from renewables by a date certain. This places the utilities in a must-buy situation. It is easier for a utility to pay homeowners to put solar panels on their roofs than to build enough wind turbines and solar farms, so utilities foot most or all of the bill. Here in DC, for example, you can get solar on a "free to you" basis for installation; the utility pays for it and the power counts against its renewable fuels standard. I'm assuming it works the same in California.

A noxious byproduct of this arrangement, of course, is that it conceals the real cost of solar from homeowners, vastly increasing the number of people who fall for the fantasy land financial numbers touted by the renewable energy crowd. The costs, however, haven't gone away; they're just buried in the rate base.

Iow, this is just cost shifting through which utilities meet artificial regulatory requirements. For this to work, everything has to run through the grid so that utilities can monitor solar output and shift the dollars appropriately. A generation ago, the solar crowd was talking about cutting free from the grid. Today, in order to maximize hidden subsidies, the strategy is to turn homeowners into vendors to their local utility.

36 posted on 10/14/2019 11:31:51 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: sphinx

When the homeowner’s roof has to be replaced, does the utility company remove the solar panels and reinstall them at no cost to the homeowner?


37 posted on 10/14/2019 11:45:15 AM PDT by NorseWood
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To: notpoliticallycorewrecked

Where did you relocate to, if you don’t mind saying.

We see a LOT of CA plates, lately, in TX.

Glad you escaped :-)


38 posted on 10/14/2019 11:51:03 AM PDT by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: NorseWood

Yes. The panels also offer some protection and shading to the roof.


39 posted on 10/14/2019 12:17:49 PM PDT by sphinx
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To: simpson96

This is what socialism does.


40 posted on 10/14/2019 12:38:13 PM PDT by Justa (If where you came from is so great then why aren't Floridians moving there?)
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