ITT: Lacius hasn’t heard of snow. What works for you doesn’t work in Wisconsin. Also yes, solar panels are both inherently unreliable and inefficient, though I am glad that you manage to produce an energy surplus and sell that surplus off to the energy company - that’s a pretty good deal. Were I in your situation, I would’ve done the same. In my region cloud coverage is too dense to get anywhere near that level of efficiency, hence why panels are less popular. Cloud coverage can reduce power generation by as much as 80%, snow will drop it down to 0% until the panel is cleared of obstruction (obviously). Photovoltaic is great *depending on where you live*, which is what I stated.
It’s a “primitive and finite energy source” that always works regardless of weather conditions and is easy to implement, that’s the advantage. 100 years from now people in harsh climates will still use diesel generators to supplement their own power, specifically for the reasons you’ve listed, because they’d rather not freeze.