The price of oil and natural gas is going up. Utilities using oil and natural gas to make electricity will have to raise electric rates to match the price increase of the fuel that produces it.
That is one of the reasons solar energy will not only be environmentally valuable, but economically viable in a few years. And that will happen within five years or so, said John Pfeifer, the president of Apollo Solar Inc. in Bethel.
“We think we’ll see it in five years — not 10, not 20,” Pfeifer said Monday, speaking to U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District.
Murphy was visiting Apollo Solar to celebrate a $1.5 million contract the Department of Energy awarded the firm last week, using money from President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package.
The grant, Murphy said, will help create jobs and will also help change American energy policy.
“It’s making long-term changes to energy generation,” Murphy said.
Apollo Solar, founded in 2000, does not make solar panels but rather the systems that transfer electricity from the panels to homes and the national power grid. They’ve always been a weak link in the chain.
“Solar panels will last 25 years,” Pfeifer said. “The circuit breaker panel in your house will last a long time. But the electronics that convert DC to AC (direct current to alternating current) aren’t that reliable.”
via Apollo solar in Bethel to help create ‘smart’ grid – NewsTimes.com.
Related posts:
- Duke Energy Tests Solar Panels and New Smart Grid Technology in Charlotte
- California Regulators Approve SCE Proposal to Create Nation’s Largest Solar Panel Installation
- Two Massive Breakthroughs for Solar Power For Homes | Go Solar Power For Homes
- Alternative energy sources – Solar Power | Mindzle – Living Green Smart – Sustainable Living Articles
- PSE&G plan takes solar energy public | Philadelphia Inquirer
