Thursday
September 28
2023

Rooftop Solar Power Has a Dark Side

By Alana Semuels

This year, during the heat of summer, when temperatures in New York surpassed 90°F, the 22 solar panels on the roof of my house were doing absolutely nothing.

This is not something I learned until September, four months after my husband and I bought this house with a purportedly functional leased solar system in upstate New York, months after logging into a website that inaccurately told us that the panels were working, months after we forked over $6,000 to prepay the remainder of the 20-year lease to the company supposed to be maintaining the solar panels, Spruce Power, which happens to be the largest privately held owner and operator of residential solar in America.

Photo courtesy of andreas160578.

Source: Time (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Energy, Technology
Tags
climate change, energy access, failure, renewable energy, solar