Great article at Investors Business Journal:
Solar Subsidies Scam Taxpayers And Homeowners
Solar panels are being installed on the roofs of homes and businesses all across America at a record pace. The fad is the latest way for families to "go green" — the energy equivalent of blue recycling bins.
The Solar Energy Industries Association likes to tout the industry's "amazing success" — but it's holding a "Shout Out For Solar" social media event Friday as it sees an "uncertain future."
That's because its continued success depends on a cascade of government subsidies, including a 30% federal investment credit that expires at the end of 2016.
Guess what? Taxpayers are paying for it — and through the metaphorical roof.
A bit more:
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and a member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, plus 11 House colleagues fired off a letter last month to the Federal Trade Commission asking if the booming solar leasing market — a "new industry with a limited track record and little regulatory oversight — poses a "considerable risk" to homeowners.
Some leasing companies "sold large numbers of subprime mortgages to unsuspecting homeowners in the runup to the subprime mortgage crisis," the investigators have found.
California and Louisiana homeowners have filed class-action lawsuits vs. solar leasing companies alleging fraudulent marketing campaigns that don't warn customers of true costs and risks.
Meanwhile, utilities such as Edison International (NYSE:EIX) complain that regulators require them to buy solar power at inflated, money-losing rates. Ultimately they must pass the costs on to other ratepayers.
A few companies are getting very rich and the rest of us are getting hosed. The systems are sold with long-term loans - the systems have a fixed life of 30 years and the batteries need replacement every five or ten (about 20% of the total system cost).
alt.energy is a scam folks. Thorium reactors are the way to go...