[thinkcontext]

> This may be true

So you are admitting its not a corporate boondoggle?

> but a residential install does eventually pay for itself in 5-10 years, and after that, effectively free power.

LCOE amortizes over the life of the system so that its an apples to apples comparison.

> So it's cheaper and better for consumers.

Its cheaper for the homeowner. Its likely more expensive for the other ratepayers, especially if there is net metering or RPS. They have to spend more on storage or flexible generation to combat the duck curve and have to make up for the fixed costs that net metering is not covering plus buy solar generation at the retail rate instead of wholesale. And its not a good deal for the taxpayer who is paying for a third of the system price since they are getting less carbon reduction per dollar than they would with utility scale.

That last one combined with RPS has really gotten on my nerves lately. My city I've seen several panel installations done on the north side of a gabled roof. That's such a horrible deal for tax payers.