Solar panels don’t solve problems for everyone

Dan Holtmeyer’s July 15 article ““More in state generate their own power” gives some advantages and disadvantages associated with growing individual-owned solar panels. However, it failed to mention one major negative issue that can arise as individual solar power continues to grow in the present manner and increases to an ever-larger fraction of grid power.

On a sunny summer afternoon, solar panel power fed into the grid may supply essentially all of the power demand. Other power sources, mainly coal and natural gas plants, will have to quit producing and shut down. Then before sunset, just when people get home from work and air conditioning demand reaches a peak, solar panel power dramatically falls, eventually to zero. Fossil fuel power must quickly ramp up to fill the void. But most fossil fuel plants cannot be rapidly started and stopped without strain on equipment, and for coal plants, plant failure can result. Sudden demand for fossil fuel power may occur in midday, when dark clouds can block the sun. To accommodate these situations, coal plants will have to be retired and replaced with expensive new gas plants, and the fossil back-up plants will have to be staffed around the clock to provide power when unexpectedly needed. Two parallel sources of grid power must now be maintained — individual solar panels and fossil power plants. The total cost of power goes up substantially. Partly the solar panel owners will pay because the grid power they draw at night and on cloudy days will cost more. But those without solar panels, mostly those unable to afford the cost, will pay the most because all of their grid power will be more expensive.

Individual solar panels may give some monetary advantage to the well-off who can afford them, but most citizens who cannot afford them will pay considerably more for their electricity. Society usually promotes actions that increase benefits for the whole, not the few. Solar panels, as currently employed, can increase benefits for the few at the expense of the whole. DONALD BOGARD

Bentonville