Why rent power when you can own it?
So I’m chatting with some friends who have just bought their first home. They’re relaying to me how nice it is to finally be in their own home instead of renting their home, and being at the mercy of the landlord, with the humiliating inspections and constant rent increases. So he says to me, “so now we own our own home we also want to own our own power”. I’m like, “what, how do you own your own power?”. He says “like you, with solar panels on our roof dummy”. Oh of course, I knew that. 
Our own power on our roof!!
I’ve never thought of it that way before, as owning your own power as compared to renting power from your power company. I like comparing that to owning your own home or renting a home. Now there’s some clear choices. You can own your own power, or you can continue renting power from your power company, and being under their control, paying whatever they force you to pay.
There’s all this FREE energy coming from the solar system’s largest fusion reactor and sustainer of all life as we know it (THE SUN!!) and noone controls this energy source. The government can’t tax it. The oil companies can’t control it. You’re can use technology to your advantage to harness and create your own power from the sun. Noone can stop you from owning your own power! You don’t have to be at the mercy of your power company, charging you what they want and delivering you power when they want. You can own your own power!
It’s making more sense to own your own power especially when the 2 power companies in my state (QLD) are reportedly going to increase the cost of power by up to 50% in the next 2 to 5 years. Ouch! They say this increase is needed to continue upgrading the power grid’s infrastructure, so as to handle future growth.
Add to that the coming Emissions Trading Schemes being implemented by most countries, where traditional coal power (dirty power) stations will have to start offsetting or paying for their massive carbon emissions. Dirty power will no doubt be a LOT more expensive, as we move forward, as these dirty power stations increase the cost of their dirty power due to their increased costs in offsetting their carbon emissions. The days of cheap dirty power are coming to an end.
This awesome energy source (the sun) is FREELY available to anyone willing to harness its amazing power. Solar PV panels on the roof harness this FREE energy, converting this energy into DC power which the inverter then converts to AC power and is used in the home. If there’s excess power generated that the house doesn’t use, then this power goes back onto the grid and you get a credit for that on your power bill. Pretty sweet deal. 
Our portable FREE power!!
With Solar PV There’s no moving parts. Little to no ongoing maintenance. It just works, day in, day out, month in, month out, year in, year out, decade in, decade out. Kind of install them and almost forget about them, working away up there, converting all that FREE ENERGY from the sun into usable AC power for the home. The only reminder you’ll get that you actually have a solar PV system on your roof, making your own power, is your greatly REDUCED power bills from your power company, depending on how much power your house uses and how much power you make yourself. 
Now my friends are looking to install a 2Kw grid connected solar panel system to their roof. This makes a LOT of sense, when you compare this with renting power off your power company. The most efficient method of supplying a home with power is through PV panels on the roof, literally metres away from where the power is being used. There’s no power losses over high voltages transmission lines. The power is generated via the PV panels and used in the house. If there is excess power, it goes back onto the power grid, and the home owner is paid AUS$0.44/Kwh of excess power pushed back onto the grid. That’s the standard feed in tarrif here in Australia. It differs for other countries.
So do you want to own your own power and stop renting power from your power company? There is a way and the way is Solar PV panels. Not only will the power company buy your excess power for up to 4 times the rate they sell it to you for, but governments are offering very attractive incentives for you to own your own power. There’s never been a better time to own your own power and stop renting power from a power company.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Gordon, yes, I am bewildered at the small moronic resistance to energy that is self renewing from nature. Those who oppose utilizing the largest fusion reactor in our Solar System as a source for renewable energy, and continue with burning fossil fuels for energy (”cause it saves us monies”), are beyond belief. Fortunately these folks are in the minority, as humanity evolves our energy supplies towards clean renewables, and create a sustainable path for our children’s children, and their children’s children. We’re not in this for us, but for our descendants.
My parents recently put a 4kW system on our roof (and sometimes with thin cloud cover reflection it’ll go up to nearly 5kW). After rebates and tax credits, it’ll pay for itself in 20 years. One of the local news channels put it on their web site, and some of the posted comments were beyond understanding. Several of them decided that solar was a waste, and suggested that two Hummer’s could’ve been purchased for the same price. Congratulations to them for completely missing the point…
Yep, you’ve basically locked in the price of your power over the next 30 years, if you want to factor the investment of the solar PV system into account outside of normal cashflow. Imagine the price of power in the next 20 years as compared to what it is now.
We live in an age of dirty cheap power, and that age is coming to an end. Renewable power will be common place in the coming generations, as the costs for dirty power increases and the costs for renewable power decreases. 10 years from now you’ll be able to buy a 1000 watt solar panel for $500.00. Or something similar. Renewables is only getting better and better as more time passes. We’re stepping into an exciting period of history. The trend is clear, and it’s renewables all the way.
Hi Bob. Great post. I have also thought of my own Solar PV in this way. The price can go up as much as they like, but I will still have my free electricity from the Sun. Nothing beats it!
Gav