"Pete C." wrote in message
I don't know the equipment cost offhand, but tracking down info on the
existing commercial solar stem electric plants in CA would provide a
wealth of information. Given the relative simplicity of motorized
mirrors reflecting the sun onto a collector tower, and lack of exotic
technologies, it may be less than you'd think.

You've again provided nice sounding fluff with no figures. Are we talking
$50,000 or $5,000,000 or $50,000,000? We certainly don't have the recources
that a utility company has. Just a WAG that cost would put it out of the
reach of most of us. This is not quite "off the shelf" equipment or
technology so the engineering alone can be tens of thousands of dollars.



As for location, it goes on your existing roof. Indeed if you have A/C
units up there to keep your plant comfortable, the shade provided by the
reflector array could significantly reduce the A/C cost as well. The
solar energy that is absorbed by all roofs is not only wasted, in most
cases it is a negative as well.

No AC in the plant. The cost would put us out of business.


The other hurdle we need to get past is the all too common idea that if
you can't replace 100% of your energy needs with RE it isn't worth
pursuing at all.

Payback. Unless the investment can show savings quickly, most buyers have
no interest. Many people move every few years and they are not interested
in 10 year paybacks. I'm surprised that more had not been done with solar
over the past 20+ years since the last oil shortage got things rolling.
There is also dumb zoning. A fellow in our town was told he had to take
down his wind turbine because it was too high.