It’s almost as if a proper energy grid isn’t compatible with private equity.
Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid.
Submitted 2 months ago by poVoq@slrpnk.net to energy@slrpnk.net
https://climate.benjames.io/solar-will-get-too-cheap-to-connect-to-the-power-grid/
Comments
Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 2 months ago
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 months ago
We had a nice setup, quasi public/private power company. Prices were low and we voted on the governing board. Cool.
The the county sold us out to a strictly private firm and most people’s prices spiked 40%, literally overnight.
I’m not much of a socialist, government solutions carry their own issues and inefficiencies, but a service as vital as power (and water and sewage) should be public works.
Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 2 months ago
You’ve got to at least have a seat at the table as a community, for it not to be an entirely predatory relationship.
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 months ago
Just export the power to the next timezone over.
friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 2 months ago
In the UK, the average wait for a grid connection is more than 5 years, and over 40% of queuing projects have a connection date beyond 2030.
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 months ago
That’s a grid connection to allow residential solar to feed back? (I thought it “just worked”)
Or any grid connection, like for a new building?
LordCrom@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Fpl artificially stifles solar panels on private homes by demanding a 1 million dollar policy be taken out payed by the homeowner in case solar damages something.
They also lobbied to get a law approved that says Insurance companies can refuse to insure houses with panels. Mine dropped me for my solar
femtech@midwest.social 2 months ago
What’s FPL?
Jambone@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Florida Power & Light
ansiz@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Duke energy in NC has basically already made it to expensive or at least not worth it to install solar. They reset the power credits to generate and you basically still are stuck paying a power bill regardless of what you generate.
ikidd@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Get batteries; fuck em.
Tiresia@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
I fear for induced demand. If electricity is cheap, why build more efficiently? Why not do bitcoin mining or AI training?
It wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t plenty of places around the world that could desperately use solar panels, that are building fossil fuel infrastructure instead. Climate change is a global problem, so the obsession with getting your individual emissions down to zero is selfish and sometimes even detrimental to the climate if “your emissions” don’t include the cost of manufacturing and limited availability.
We should be sending solar panels to the developing world as fast as humanly possible, not making electricity so cheap in California that multinationals can open up a couple more data centers.
repungnant_canary@lemmy.world 2 months ago
We should be sending solar panels to the developing world as fast as humanly possible
More of addendum than criticism - sending random stuff to developing countries is one of the problems. Solar panels need proper infrastructure and maintenance. Instead of sending them for the west to feel good, we should rather empower governments of those countries to take their own initiative, build infrastructure, train people and make the panels very affordable for them.
Tiresia@slrpnk.net 1 month ago
Annoying that western charity is so self-aggrandizing that such an addendum is necessary, but fair. Ideally “send X” just *means *“send X and the systems to make good use of X”.
Gloomy@mander.xyz 2 months ago
sending random stuff to developing countries is one of the problems.
Relevant Video.
mdd@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Already happening in Northern California. PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric), which is a FOR-PROFIT utility, reduced the price it pays individuals for selling extra power to the grid. The reason cited was there is too much power being sold at the wrong time of day.
Take a look at California ISO to see real-time graphs of electricity generation and usage.
Solar is currently generating about 50% of total electricity. A percentage of that is going to batteries.
LesserAbe@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Pretty exciting!
vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
All I’m hearing is excuses not to invest in battery storage at the grid level.
Iceblade02@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Grid scale storage will be built en masse the moment it becomes economical, or when governments decide to use tax payer money to do it or subsidize it.
vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
That’s fair, but the reason it’s not economical right now is mostly poorly thought out contracts and subsidies. We are already paying for this mess.
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Is your area not undergoing a massive expansion? I’m in NW Florida, hardly a hotbed of environmentalism, and brother, business is booming.
I fully expect the 20-miles between the edge of town and my camp to be covered in the next decade. Any non-residential and non-commercial land is getting bought up and covered. I expect to see solar panels all they way in the space between the interstate and the state highway, already a few spots where you can see clear from one road to the other over the panels. Very exciting!
Tobberone@lemm.ee 2 months ago
I wish we could. That capacity is already booked. Our batteries needs to be used as local storage. And this is before the EU mandate on solarpanels on all roof tops has taken effect. The grid can’t expand at that rate, unfortunately.
Valmond@lemmy.world 2 months ago
What do you mean? Worst case put the batteries with the panel?
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Plug in EVs are the most immediate solution to battery storage.
vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
But they are not home at peak solar.