Using solar power at home is no longer limited to having your own solar panels on your house rooftop. US-born peer-to-peer solar sharing system offers everyone the option to buy cheap solar power from their neighbors.
Having solar panels on your house roof is great, if only for just giving you the rewarding feeling of generating and using clean power. Unfortunately, as great and as desirable it can be, there are still quite a few engineering and financial conditions that a house owner has to meet before fitting the panels. These include the suitability and ownership of the rooftop, as well as being able to afford the substantial initial investment.
And if these are not enough, there is always the question of “is there such thing as free lunch?”, or in other words, is it only a matter of time before the utility companies start charging home energy producers for storing and distributing their energy, and when are the supportive governments going to introduce taxes on home-produced energy?
With all these in mind, and the very expensive, bulky and insufficient energy storage technologies that are available for commercial home use, many people are still hesitant, and often unable, to invest in solar.
However, a new solar power sharing program offered by Yeloha network, an extension of the bigger and more widely known company Generaytor, might just be the solution that everyone has been waiting for. The so-called peer-to-peer network is essentially a solar power market place, where everyone, who owns a suitable for solar installation roof, can register.
The owner receives free solar panels, but agrees to share part of the energy with less fortunate residents, who have shaded roof or apartments. Everyone can then purchase as much energy as they like at a much lower price than what the utilities offer.
Solar sharing programs are not new. Not long ago, another similar idea- “community solar“, appeared on the news, offering something similar to what Yeloha network proposes, only that here the panels are not fitted on house roofs, but rather shared within a solar plant.
These options are great for people, who cannot afford or are still in doubt to generate their own power. The more alternatives are out there, the more likely it is that people give them a try, without going “all or nothing”. Let’s hope the popularity of sharing solar will grow faster, and the minor set-backs associated with home energy storage, or huge initial investments will be very soon just a thing of the past.
Image (c) Yeloha
