Hydro and Solar PV Have Different Levels of Visceral Appeal

I’m having discussions with a start-up in the New England section of the U.S. that offers a unique approach and capability to hydrokinetics; they’re interested in having my team and me deliver a set of “biz dev” actions aimed at helping them advance their concept into real-world projects. 

This may sound like a remarkably ignorant and quasi-sexist thing to say, but I love hydro, and I believe that my fascination of hydro is at some level a “boy thing,” not unlike the affinity for trains we guys all harbored since the time we were little kids.  Lots of raw power–that kind of thing.

Apparently, the converse is also true.  I.e., some people have a natural repugnance for solar PV because there are no moving parts, loud noises, or high temperatures.  I’m reminded of a conversation with my colleague John Perlin, scholar in residence at the physics department of the University of California at Santa Barbara, author of the book “Let It Shine–The 6000-Year Story of Solar Energy.”  As it turns out, John directed the construction of the campus’s several MW solar array, and often acts as a tour guide for visitors who are interested to see how it works.

He told me that, to his amusement, his guests occasionally find it hard to conceal how unimpressed they are.  “That’s all it is?” people sometimes sigh, scarcely hiding their disappointment.  “It just stands there?” as if a few thousand tons of pounding pistons would have somehow made them more certain that the whole apparatus was worthwhile.

Though I love them both, I have to admit that there is a certain appeal to a few million acre-feet of rushing water.