PowerSwitch

George Monbiot - The Guardian - 11/03/10

Our tariff plan is near-identical to Germany's – that's the one that produced woeful amounts of energy, jobs and innovation.

Article continues ...

Old Moonbat generating those negative waves - again.

*sigh*

moonbat wrote:If we are to prevent runaway climate change, we have to ensure that we get the biggest available bang for our buck: in other words the greatest cut in greenhouse gas production from the money we spend. Money spent on ineffective solutions is not just a waste: it's also a lost opportunity.

This is the key point. For moonbat it's all about global warming.
If it's instead all about keeping the lights on and industry running then solar power is a *great* way to ease the strain on the grid and still provide power.
It's expensive, sure, but power is going to get expensive no matter what we do. I reckon if we spend the money *now* when we don't yet have to, it's better than trying to spend the money later when/if we don't have it.[/b]

The use of grid tied solar is certainly useful for reducing the amount of gas or coal burnt in power plants, and thereby reducing carbon emmisions.
There is also a balance of payments gain since less coal or gas has to be imported.

However PV does not reduce the need for building other plants since it contributes nothing at times of peak load, which is early evening in the winter.

Wind is better in this respect since it produces power at times of peak demand, and therefore slightly reduces the need for other generating plant.

In warmer climates with a large A/C load PV can reduce peak demand since the peak of production at least roughly coincides with peak A/C demand.