That was precisely my point. Do we need economies of scale any more?

I was just reading of a new type of enterprise in the US. Offices and industrial premises with roof space can get rather a large amount of energy from a well-designed and large solar array.

The business model is that the entrepreneur analyses the needs of the office and then installs the entire system gratis - but the ordering company then pays for the energy they get, at more or less going rates for electricity off the grid. Where they gain is that when power is generated by the rooftop system surplus to requirements, it is sold back to the grid supplier, and benefits both the entrepreneur and their client.

According to the report, the main bone of contention is the unit price of the sellback which so far has been closer to the retail price (ie the grid utility company becomes a consumer). On the other hand, the utility companies have found these new systems to help quite a lot with peak loading - saving them from starting up expensive reserve generators etc.

But it is an interesting model...

You can't be me, I'm taken