Comment on Solar modules now selling for less than €0.06/W in Europe
DogWater@lemmy.world 21 hours agoBecause grid level power delivery is about FAR more than just raw wattage numbers. Momentum of spinning turbines is extremely important to the grid. The grid relies on generation equipment maintaing an AC frequency of 60 hz or 50hz or whatever a country decides on. Changing loads throughout the day literally and a resistance to the entire grid and it can drag the frequency down.
reliable consistent power delivery is absolutely critical when it comes to running the grid effectively and that is something that solar and wind are bad at
Ideally we will be able to use those technologies to fill grid level storage to supply 100% of our energy needs in the not to distant future but until then we desperately need large, consistent, clean power generation.
mindlesscrollyparrot@discuss.tchncs.de 12 hours ago
You aren’t wrong, but you are assuming that the grid is required. Solar panels can be installed at the point of use, and then the grid doesn’t come into it at all.
frezik@midwest.social 10 hours ago
That’s the worst way to do solar, though. It doesn’t get to take advantage of economies of scale in installation and inverters. Some levelized cost of energy studies put it just as expensive as nuclear.
Solar gets its cheapness when it’s in fields or on top of large, flat commercial/industrial buildings.
mindlesscrollyparrot@discuss.tchncs.de 10 hours ago
Do commercial/industrial buildings not require power then?
frezik@midwest.social 10 hours ago
There’s often enough space on those buildings for excess power. Not all those buildings have particularly intensive energy needs. Many are just warehouses.