U.C. Berkeley professor calls solar PV technology “a loser”

A working paper authored by a University of California, Berkeley professor says that the costs of installing solar panels outweigh the social benefits.

Severin Borenstein, director of the U.C. Energy Institute, argues that state and federal subsidies for solar panel installations should instead go to increasing research and development budgets.

"We are throwing money away by installing the current solar PV technology, which is a loser," he said. "We need a major scientific breakthrough and we won’t get it by putting panels up on houses."

His report is based on the argument that solar panels produce power at the end-user’s location, which can reduce transmission and distribution costs. An analysis of nearly 27,000 solar PV systems in California revealed this wasn’t the case.

"Solar PV is not clustered in the most valuable locations," he concluded.

While the panels do generate more power on summer afternoons, Borenstein noted that most electricity systems put a higher cost on the electricity during the same time period and charge consumers the same price for electricity throughout the day.

"Basically, the benefits of solar PV are undermined by the way most grids are run today," he said.

Borenstein is a proponent of variable time pricing, in which electricity systems don’t always run at excess capacity and the prices fluctuate with electricity demand throughout the day. Some utilities are already considering these changes, he noted.

By 2012, electricity customers in California may have the option of signing up to receive electricity bills with such fluctuating charges.

"When that happens, the value of solar will go up," he said.

Borenstein's paper is available online.