[admksx45v65uqpw]

The question is, would you have had higher returns investing in a large-scale solar project?

I have achieved breakeven over buying some produce from the grocery store by growing it in my back yard, but that doesn't mean it's the future of agriculture. I guess it would help if the local Whole Foods were required to buy my excess lemons at the $1/each sticker price.

[roel_v]

Growing your own produce is a net negative 'investment', even when you don't factor in the labor cost. On-premises solar starts making money after a few years (or today, depending on circumstances - I took out a subsidized loan to finance them, so no initial outlay, and had lower costs the day they were installed); centralized solar might make (a few percent) more but you can't leverage, you don't have control over anything (CEO 200% salary hike? 'sure', says the board, 'we're paying a 10% dividend aren't we? That's huge by industry standards!'), and you run the risk of losing everything (whereas solar panels are on your roof and unlikely to be a total loss).

So very different risk profiles, hence very different risk/reward trade-offs.

[smsm42]

> The question is, would you have had higher returns investing in a large-scale solar project?

If you are lucky. If you are not, you've just invested in Solyndra (yes, I know they are manufacturer and not producer, doesn't matter). Local solar is much less risky.