By RICHARD NEBEL
Los Alamos
This is the second of two letters, (first) and here I will discuss what we are doing about power needs at Tibbar Plasma Technologies, Inc (TPTI).
As I mentioned in my previous letter, we are an R & D company working on thermonuclear fusion. However, we have concluded that there is no commercial market for terrestrial fusion reactors (with the possible exception of the military) so our fusion systems are being adapted for space propulsion. For our own needs, we’ve gone solar.
Since Jan. 15, 2020, we have been providing all of our power and heating and cooling needs at TPTI with a Solar Photovoltaic system combined with a heat pump. We have enough excess capacity that we can also put in recharging stations for our employees electric cars. This requires a PV array that is considerable larger than one for producing power alone, but it is doable at an economically acceptable price (the payback time is estimated at 15-20 years). We are a zero emissions facility.
Why have we done this? Every night when I turn on the TV PNM is telling us about how they are going to renewable energy. This scares me to death. It’s pretty obvious what they have in mind. They’re going to go to renewables, then they are going to raise their rates to pay for the renewable power equipment. If the ratepayers object, then they will use the argument that “you told us to do this so now you have to pay for it”.
They are effectively going to ask their ratepayers to capitalize their company for them. That in turn raises the value of the company, raises the stock price, and the PNM investors do really well. Los Alamos county doesn’t have the stock raising incentive, but you can rest assured that their ratepayers are going to pay for the renewable equipment costs.
The obvious question is that if I’m going to pay for all of this equipment, then why shouldn’t I own it? The cost for solar PV systems is largely in the panels, so there is no monetary incentive to have utilities build large PV systems instead of individual owners.
It doesn’t have a large economy of scale (this isn’t true for wind power, but most of us aren’t going to be putting up a wind turbine in our back yard).
Ownership has a lot of advantages. The standard economic model is:
- You make money;
- You pay income tax;
- You pay for goods and services (like utilities); and
- You pay gross receipt taxes.
If you provide those goods and services yourself, then you don’t pay any of those taxes. Most of what is taxed in this country is commerce. If you don’t “commit commerce” then you don’t pay taxes.
This is the first time in my lifetime where it is possible for a person to have a decent standard of living and be energy independent. Going the solar route allows you to thumb your nose at the utilities, the oil companies, the gas companies, and to a certain extent the government itself. If the utilities raise their rates or the price of gas and gasoline go up, all that does is increase the value of your solar investment and shorten the payback time. Producing your own power locks in your costs up front and eliminates a lot of cash flow. This is particularly useful if you are retired and living on a fixed income.
What I have never been able to understand is why conservatives and libertarians have not embraced renewable energy. It leads to more self-sufficiency, more self-reliance, more independence, and lower taxes. You would think that Paul Gessing and the Rio Grande Foundation would be all over this. On top of that, the government is still paying subsidies to do this. It just doesn’t get any better than that!
One of the objections to solar that Mr. Walker (link) and Mr. Wright (link) alluded to is that renewables do not provide power all of the time. Right now that is not an issue since utilities provide backup power for a modest fee and buy back any excess power you produce during the day.
There is no incentive for an individual to invest in energy storage. If that changes (and it might), it isn’t the show stopper that Mr. Walker and Mr. Wright suggest it is. Let’s take a look at the numbers. Our 20 kWe PV array produces an average of about 100 kW-hrs. of electricity every day. The battery bank on a Tesla automobile holds about 80 kW-hrs. of energy. That’s more than enough to provide the daytime-nighttime energy swing. During the day (when you aren’t driving it), plug your Tesla into your house PV system. At night, plug your house into your Tesla. With the advent of electric cars, you know this storage technology is only going to get better and cheaper.
So how do I feel about Nuscale? I think it is a stupid idea for the county to get involved in it, but I am personally somewhat ambivalent about it. TPTI is already producing our own power, so it isn’t going to affect us if the county creates a mess and increases utility rates.
If any of you would like to see our PV system and how it performs, contact me at r_nebel@hotmail.com . We’ll be happy to show you around and share our data with you. We don’t have any commercial interest in solar units, but we can put you in touch with good people who do.