I’m still surprised that the power companies still haven’t done the obvious thing: put rooftop solar on their customer’s homes. Customer pays normal rates and gets a small leasing cost similar to what cell towers do for property owners when they install transmitters.

The solar companies are doing this and they are making money. Ten years ago I predicted this was the future for the power companies, but much like the recording industry, they just keep dragging their feet and living in the past.

It reduces the need for new long haul transmission lines to build new central capacity and new plants. It also eliminates expensive permitting and land acquisition costs, environmental cleanup and decommissioning costs. It really seems like a no brainer…