JACKSON, Miss.- Several power companies in Mississippi are testing out solar energy to see how well it works in the state, and what the challenges are. Entergy Mississippi has three solar-powered sites in construction that will all be up and running by the end of the year.
The purpose of these sites are to see how the different geographical areas effect the production of solar energy.
But what if you had your own rooftop panels installed and ran your home completely on that? You could generate your own electricity and sell the extra back to the power company. Could it be done? Mara Hartmann with Entergy Mississippi says no.
“No one has been able to run a house 24/7, 365 just on a solar rooftop,” Hartmann said. “Because you may have periods of, not only night time, but when the sun is not shining during the day, when it’s pouring down rain, if you have a week of a lot of thunderstorms, you’re not going to be producing power, not very much.”
Hartmann added that you need the grid to provide power to your home when your solar rooftop is not, and that you need it to sell your excess electricity back to the power company.
Listen below for the whole interview with Mara Hartmann:
