The Fresh Prince of PV

Der Spiegel reports that Bavaria’s Prince Albert of Thurn and Taxis wants to build the world's largest solar park in his native region, taking advantage of lower panel prices and state-guaranteed prices for renewable electricity.

In Germany, the system is set up so that utilities effectively buy electricity from producers at set prices, allowing the latter to amortize the price of the install relatively shortly and even turn their wind turbine /solar panels into income-makers. See feed-in tariffs.

But the new “Sun Prince” is encountering resistance from unexpectedly non-pragmatic Bavarians who complain, somewhat poetically, that: "Where now the eye glides over the Gäuboden countryside, our citizens will only see a gleaming glass desert."

I have to admit – when you put it like that, I’m almost convinced. Remains to be seen if the local city council will feel the same in the face of almost 1 million euro in additional taxes to the city from the 18 million euro in annual electricity sales the Sun Prince hopes to earn.