Solar panels could destroy U.S. utilities, according to U.S. utilities

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70. Utility company could change their business model

I would love to have solar panels on my property, generating energy to go into my electric cooperative's grid. But they do not have the infrastructure to allow me to put energy in, only to take it out.

I also would NOT want to have to maintain and repair solar panels. I WOULD be happy to make a deal with the electric coop to have them install the panels, they maintain them - the same way they currently maintain the power lines - and I pay a monthly fee, hopefully less than I now pay for electricity. So many Americans would not want to have to maintain the panels or a battery array, I think this would be a practical solution for the utility companies.

When we built our house, I looked into photovoltaics. Aside from the initial investment (the estimate I got was $30,000), not being able to sell my surplus to the electric coop, and the maintenance problem all made it impractical. Instead, I put more money (not as much as the solar would have cost) into building a tight, well insulated building envelope which has already paid off and will pay off no matter what kind of energy I use.

From the OP article:

Utility investors are accustomed to large, long-term, reliable investments with a 30-year cost recovery — fossil fuel plants, basically. The cost of those investments, along with investments in grid maintenance and reliability, are spread by utilities across all ratepayers in a service area. What happens if a bunch of those ratepayers start reducing their demand or opting out of the grid entirely? Well, the same investments must now be spread over a smaller group of ratepayers. In other words: higher rates for those who haven’t switched to solar.

The panels I looked at were estimated to last 30 years and to pay off the initial cost after the first 7-10 years. This is a better investment than the 30 year cost recovery they talk about above!