In response to my rant on New Jersey’s decision to put tiny installations of solar photovoltaics atop 175,000 power poles, at a cost of $200 million, senior energy analyst Glenn Doty writes:
The LCOE (levelized cost of energy) gets really interesting when you consider the potential lifespan. A “pole-top solar panel” is not too different from a “kite” if the winds rise too high. It’s a truly bizarre decision right after the entire state was pounded by near-hurricane force winds for nearly 24 hours just a couple of months ago.
Glenn: It’s funny you mention that. When I talked about maintenance at the end of this post, I was tempted to ask, “In addition to the dirt and bird crap that couldn’t possibly be cleaned from the top of 175,000 of these installations, isn’t there some recent evidence that they could get blown off their poles and wind up in tiny pieces all over a dozen different zip codes?”
I love clean energy, but I hate stupidity.
