Are micro-alternative energy systems better than mega-watt, power industries for some applications?

Question

Would it not be better to outfit each individual home or apartment complex with solar PVC panels ( used directly for powering swampcoolers, or in operating exhaust/circulating fans) than it is to conduct the electricity, from up to hundreds of miles away, only to use what's left to energize air conditioners?

Answer 1

Probably not.

With a connection to the power grid you don't have to do much, just pay the power bill every so often and use whatever you need (and can afford) without having to worry about whether your solar panel can supply enough power or whether your batteries are charged.  When you consider the efficiency of batteries and inverters you probably aren't actually gaining all that much over the grid while losing out on the important economies of scale that come with centralisation.

About the only place where such things as solar panels and wind turbines are worth looking at is where you can't just connect to a power grid which is only a minority of power users.  Even then solar panels and wind turbines plus battery backup really limit what you can do, places off the grid that need reliability are going to need a generator as well.

Answer 2

For some applications yes.  

To what extent is a function of what the equipment costs.  The cheaper those solar photovoltaic panels can be made for example, the more applications they will be suited for.

Attempts are being made to improve the situation, and some interesting innovations where solar panels are concerned have been recently in the news.