It's been ages since I have my eye on solar energy and have been thinking of doing something in this regard. When the Iran - US war broke out and fuel shortages made price sore and the immediate future looked quite worrying, I saw an article about people setting up solar panels on their balcony and there was a post on Hive as well in this regard.
Photo by Nuno Marques on Unsplash
For me, this would be the only available solution because I live in an apartment building, so the roof is not exactly mine, in order to install anything on it, would need the approval of all inhabitants, which I would never get. The funny thing is that as I said, they would instantly say no to such a request as they don't benefit and I'd be using their space too to some extent, but if I propose for them to join, they would say no to that as well as investing means spending money and paying for something that benefits us all has always been a problem. Yes, tell me about it, it's pure headache each time, but this is how people are and I still can't complain as so far the major issues have been solved one way or another.
Back to the topic of the post, solar power that is, I wanted to know what my options are with a limited space, which is my balcony basically and asked a friend who's working in the energy industry. Kind of new we're not yet where other countries are with solar energy, but what I've been told shocked me.
First of all, I would not get an authorization to install the panels because from aesthetic point of view it would ruin the look of the building. You can always skip this step, but you'd last a day or two, till someone notices it and then you not only would be fined, you'd have to take the whole thing down as well and you'd be left with the loss.
For the sake of the argument, let's skip this step and disregard it, as if it wouldn't be an impediment and let's go on.
Talking to a person well versed in this regard helps a lot, so I was told that even if I'd be allowed to install some panels, with the available space I have and the size of panels I could use, the max power I could produce per day is 1kW, which is nothing honestly, compared to the consumption usually I have.
Then comes the tricky part, or the f**kery, if I want to be brutally honest. I'm not sure if the term smart consumption is used in this case, but that's what I'd call it now, that I know how it works. In my vocabulary, this term would mean you consume what you produce and the reason to do so is the terms and conditions the energy supplier is offering to those connecting to the grid with solar power.
Photo by Red Zeppelin on Unsplash
Basically you can feed the power you don't use into the system and the company pays you for that, but ... as there's always a but, they pay you 0.4 RON for it while they sell what you consume from the grid at around 1.5RON. Now do the math. Did I mention this is f**kery? Yes, I did.
I'm an economist and understand they need to make some profit too, but from 0.4 to 1.5 there's a long way. Storing the access energy is out of the question as literally there's no way I could install the necessary batteries due to lack of space, which leaves me with organizing my day in a way to be able to use what I consume, but this is also out of the question. I have no intention to be the slave of such system and live my life focusing on this. Hell no!
Honestly, I was hoping to find a solution that can help me join the solar world, but at the moment it is only profitable, if you have enough panels and batteries to be self sufficient. Otherwise you can't even get back your investment it seems, let alone be profitable.
It's a shame things stand like this and knowing how things work in this sector, chances to see some change in the right direction are slim. I'm not saying slim to none as sooner or later the EU is going to put some pressure on countries lagging in the renewable energy sector, but in a country where governments last for a year or two and politicians are busy fighting for positions and power, you can't expect much.
So problem solved. Solar energy sounds good, but that's all as no way I can use it where I live.
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