What I said is that solar is basically free energy. Don't let semantics get the better of you. There's something called return on investment(ROI) after a period of time something will pay for itself. It's the same thing for miners, after the GPU and electricity is paid for they may possibly return a profit.
Again, don't skew what was posted, I said BASICALLY FREE, big difference from IS FREE. If I gave you a solar array and installed it for you here in Chicago you could possibly have the utility company owing you money, of course they never pay you in cash, they just credit your account.
Honestly, I wouldn't doubt it if they tried to impose a tax. Here in Cook County they just placed a sweetened beverage tax on us of $0.01 per ounce of liquid.
Once you've hit your return on investment it is, assuming your currency isn't stolen.
You haven't heard of much solar in Illinois because you're not involved with it. I'm an IBEW Local 134 electrician. We already have some good size solar fields out there, the West Pulman area is a great example and there are many more arrays being planned right now.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/W...589ca9afeba7ba!8m2!3d41.6780523!4d-87.6430841
There are of course some costs that come with the territory, these panels aren't invulnerable to bullets. The locals like to fire their guns in the air and those bullets come down and damage modules from time to time.
Yep, that's why key words need to be left in the text. It's semantics but I said solar was basically free energy. There's a big difference. If you pay in full(you usually don't) your ROI would be about 20 years depending on your install. I could do the work myself if I wanted to so that would save myself a lot on labor.
You clearly don't know what you're talking about. You've clearly never been here and used a solar pathfinder. Solar is actually really good in Illinois. There are also kickbacks for solar installs for $10,000 in cases, a solar install will also add $10,000 to the value of your home after a home appraisal while most installs will be around $20,000 so right away you can break even. However, where I live I pay very little for per kilowatt-hour so in my case it would take a long time for solar to make sense if kickbacks weren't in effect. But I suggest you do your research and you'll realize how good solar is in Illinois and why there are very big projects being planned. IKEA has commited already.
http://midwestenergynews.com/2017/0...sh-with-illinois-largest-rooftop-solar-array/