Calif. utility to retire troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant

[patb]

it will be replaced by Wind.

cheaper.

[patb]

rates are dropping like mad

[patb]

or you need wind.

[patb]

battery is dropping in price too.

[curiousmind]

A friend of mine that works there stopped by not an hour after posting this. From a personal perspective, and all other things aside, I can’t imagine anything better for him. Unfortunately that remains to be seen. The Black Swan always needs a hug.

[treehugger]

I wonder, do folks understand that they have 60 years to fully close that thing down? Edison leases the land from Camp Pendleton and the lease states something along the lines of the land will be returned as it was found…..

Rumored 1,100 workers to be laid off in the next few months, starting in August. A skeleton crew of 400 will remain (let’s not forget that site must still remain secure 24/7 for the next several decades). These are good paying highly specialized jobs. I have a friend whose husband was informed on Friday he will be losing his job. They currently reside in North County and will relocate within the next few months, hopefully just up to SLO and the El Diablo plant. At what point will the economic impacts to San Diego and Orange County be analyzed? The impacts to environmental/biological, socio-economic, utilities, water quality/resources, recreation, traffic, hazardous material/waste, cultural (yes there is a burial site under there), land use, visual, safety and environmental health, etc… of closing the plant have not even begun to be analyzed, good or bad. The folks who are SOOO excited when they heard SONGS was closing they cried, should demand that analysis in a timely manner.

Desal starting construction in Carlsbad, has been looking for a toe-hold on CPEN.

Might I remind folks that the ONLY reason that 17 miles of mostly open coastline between San Diego and Orange County still exists is because of the United States Marine Corps! Camp Pendleton is home to 16 threatened and endangered species that are thriving because everyone else wants to build houses everywhere! Camp Pendleton is NOT going away and we should be damn happy about that.

END RANT.

[bearishgurl]

Thank you for your RANT, treehugger. I agree with all of it. SD County has enough housing to last thru at least three more boom-and-bust cycles at which time the remaining employers here who have consolidated operations here or elsewhere in the state, country or world will be controlling the few local companies/installations with FT secure jobs.

As I have stated here repeatedly, it is not the job (and shouldn’t be the goal) of those running CA’s coastal cities and counties to approve endless housing permits into oblivion just for the sake of attracting new residents. We don’t need any new residents, and, in any case, if they move here and want to buy a residence, they can shop the resales on offer to them at the time.

CA coastal areas within ~eight miles of the coast were never set up for the young “worker-bee set” to live a luxurious, carefree life of their dreams. They are actually “move up” areas for those who have already paid their dues in life and/or for those who are otherwise financially secure.

As it has always been and should be.

[no_such_reality]

[quote=ocrenter][quote=no_such_reality][quote=The-Shoveler]Time to get the solar panels installed and buy a back-up generator.
[/quote]

You need a very expensive battery off-grid arrangement. Otherwise, when the grid is down, it pulls your system down too.[/quote]

Did the calculation a few month ago, breakeven for solar panels were still over 10 years, counting gov rebates. The lease schemes all involve pretty high interest rates that they do not want to disclose.

Am I wrong about this? Anyone gotten solar recently?[/quote]

Ten sounds about right.

Meanwhile, 97 cent monthly electric bills with the AC set to 72 is PFN. 🙂

The leases make sense if you’ve got very high electric bills each month, think regularly into tier 5. Leases are problematic if you want to sell, the buyer needs to assume the lease.

[ocrenter]

[quote=no_such_reality]

Ten sounds about right.

Meanwhile, 97 cent monthly electric bills with the AC set to 72 is PFN. 🙂

The leases make sense if you’ve got very high electric bills each month, think regularly into tier 5. Leases are problematic if you want to sell, the buyer needs to assume the lease.[/quote]

thanks for the reply, that makes a lot more sense. The tier 5 comment also explains why most of the homes that went with solar in the neighborhood are often 30 panels and higher. We have only been in tier 4 a few times so had no idea there’s such thing as tier 5.

I was thinking of the same thing about lease systems in regard to sale of the home. The buyer would need to assume the lease, but the buyer may also be assuming lease of panels that may be outdated at the time of purchase.

[no_such_reality]

OC, the leases aren’t like regularly leases, that’s why system are over-sized. The lease is more like a discounted car rental than a long term car lease.

You pay a discounted rate for KWH used whether produced by the utility or the panel on your roof.

Any net excess production credit goes to the operator, not the homeowner. The economics of panels and inverters favor oversized systems. A 10% cost increase for the inverter and you can double the number of panels. The panels themselves aren’t that expensive, the labor is as much and the labor cost is frankly the same whether you install 15 panels or 30 panels. When we installed ours that’s what we did, nearly doubled the system capacity for right around 10%.

Except for the selling issue, leasing is pretty attractive.

[ocrenter]

[quote=no_such_reality]OC, the leases aren’t like regularly leases, that’s why system are over-sized. The lease is more like a discounted car rental than a long term car lease.

You pay a discounted rate for KWH used whether produced by the utility or the panel on your roof.

Any net excess production credit goes to the operator, not the homeowner. The economics of panels and inverters favor oversized systems. A 10% cost increase for the inverter and you can double the number of panels. The panels themselves aren’t that expensive, the labor is as much and the labor cost is frankly the same whether you install 15 panels or 30 panels. When we installed ours that’s what we did, nearly doubled the system capacity for right around 10%.

Except for the selling issue, leasing is pretty attractive.[/quote]

I guess there are different leasing schemes out there. The quote I received involved a fixed payment monthly for the lease of the system. As for the price of the system I was quoted, increase in capacity by 10% was accompanied by increase in price by 10% as well. I also went to the wholesale solar site just to see the cost of the system without installation, the capacity vs cost increase were identical. Doubling the capacity led to doubling of cost. But maybe that’s because I’ve been looking at smaller systems.

[cvmom]

We got solar last year, payback is approx 9 years due to high energy usage for charging of electric car.

[no_such_reality]

cvmon, why didn’t you get the electric car plan and separate meter? I thought those were like 12 cents/KWH.

OC, the market probably has been changing in the last year or so, it’s gotten very trendy and I suspect the installers are milking a premium out of it.

[cvmom]

[quote=no_such_reality]cvmon, why didn’t you get the electric car plan and separate meter? I thought those were like 12 cents/KWH.[/quote]

Hubby did the negotiations, talked to like 6 vendors and went through every possible aspect, ended up with one meter, that is all I know. 🙂 But PM me if you really need more details and I will find out for you.

[CA renter]

Just received notice the other day from SDG&E about the rate increases resulting from the closure of San Onofre. IIRC, they said the cost increase would be about $75.00 for bills over $250/month. Unfortunately, I threw the letter away, so just going from memory (which isn’t always good). I would think this changes the solar calculations for many homeowners, which might put upward pressure on solar prices.

We’re definitely thinking about it, but would like to hear from others who’ve already installed the systems. If you had to do it all over again, would you? Are you realizing the ROI that was suggested by the solar salespeople?

Thanks, in advance, for any input.

[Author]

Posts