Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. As electricity prices go negative, the Golden State is struggling to offload a glut of solar power

Maggoty@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• EatATaco@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Probably should read the article. Nah. Fuck that. Much better to just express outraged, regardless if it makes sense.

  source

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I don’t make sense, I make dollars! To be fair, negative prices and an over abundance of solar energy are standard complaints of conservatives.

    source

    • spujb@lemmy.cafe ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      they are right though. if you look into this at all, you will quickly find that negative prices are not a problem because of profits, but because non-renewable energy sources start to undergo damage when the power they create is unused due to an overfilled power grid.

      as the article outlines, the solution is storage, but storage capacity has not yet caught up to solar capacity.

      believe me, i too am highly critical of capitalism. but for once, this isn’t an instance of that. and by failing to read and understand the article you have entered this thread in pretty bad faith, more or less spreading misinformation because it’s what you assume to be true.

      source

      • lemat_87@slrpnk.net ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Yep, this is sadly a physical problem in the essence, not created virtually by capitalist economy. The negative price is just how the capitalist economy reacts at it.

        source

        • -> View More Comments
      • Maggoty@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Okay, I went and read it because I have more time today and excess electricity causing physical damage is a compelling narrative. But this article doesn’t support that. It’s just plant operators having to pay for people to take their electricity because their plant is obsolete technology and can’t idle. I did check a few other articles too. It seems the damage is financial and a problem because we’ve turned a public good into a for profit capitalist system.

        The solution is many things but also to just have modern natural gas plants that are more than capable of flexible output. Of course the profit motive means updates like that only come when forced and boards like the CPUC have been hopelessly captured for my entire lifetime. So instead they shit on their consumers.

        source