Opinion

Solar investment makes little sense

Posted December 23, 2009 10:00 pm

I read with amazement and disgust the Sun Power article about Palatine-based Schneider Electrics solar array installation. The article stated an installation cost of $750,000 with an annual cost savings of $9,000.

Not including interest costs, the payback period for this project is over 80 years! The expected life of the solar array is only 40 years. Typically, business managers seek a two- to five- year payback period for capital projects.

What could possibly motivate Schneider CEO Chris Curtis to make such a foolish investment? The article goes on to say Schneider only contributed about $90,000 to the project still a poor investment with a payback period of over 10 years. The remainder, a whopping $660,000, was stolen from taxpayers in the form of federal and state incentives and tax credits.

David Morey

Arlington Heights

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