Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
the solar salesman told me that with 20kw panels, €150,000 investment, i was looking at a tax-free revenue contract income of €30,000 per year, and no more metering my own use.
'the time has come', he said, beady eyes glittering with lucre-love, 'to get rich off solar in italy'...

meanwhile, still waiting for various permits to put up a measly 2.5 kw!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Oct 24th, 2007 at 10:00:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
How long has it been melo?

Probably sometimes Italian architecture needs to be protected esthetically but I just can't wait to see concrete monstrosities or cheap corrugate farm sheds to be paneled shut...

by Nomad (Bjinse) on Wed Oct 24th, 2007 at 12:18:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
the permits have only been applied for quite recently, what was really time consuming was to get correct, unbiased information, or sometimes, any information at all.

most things kinda run like this, so i'm not so surprised.

what's needed is a consumer agency studying the field and providing a database of the different panels, their longevity, yield, price etc.

it can take weeks for an engineer to come over and give you diametrically opposite advice to that of the engineer here a few weeks earlier.

ENEL advertises that they are proactive, but don't return my calls.

we are in a time-eddy of corruption here....italian telecom takes care of its french clients better than its italian ones.

broadband still a distant dream too...

still, when it all does come, it will be worth the wait.

i agree that the attention to stopping the kind of urban blight so evident in other parts of italy is laudable, even though they go too far the other way.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Oct 24th, 2007 at 01:24:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
the solar salesman told me that with 20kw panels, €150,000 investment, i was looking at a tax-free revenue contract income of €30,000 per year, and no more metering my own use.

Times like this, I regret living so far north: from what I can see, you'll collect about 50% more energy at 45N than 55N (or I'll collect 2/3).  And it would take a lot longer to recoup the investment.
by cbatjesmond on Wed Oct 24th, 2007 at 01:42:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
well there are advantages to choosing a more southerly location, for sure...

but if germany can do it...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Oct 24th, 2007 at 01:49:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:

Occasional Series