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It's surprising that it's possible to produce electricity at home for a lower cost than the wholesale price. I can't think of any other commodity for which thi

by mg 4y ago

It's surprising that it's possible to produce electricity at home for a lower cost than the wholesale price. I can't think of any other commodity for which this is possible. You couldn't make your own steel, bread or printer paper at home and beat manufacturing at scale. Why is electricity different?

ars 4y ago
Grid scale solar is half the price of home electricity. Also about half your bill is distribution fees. And, BTW, making bread at home is cheaper than buying it. Get a bread machine, put in ingredients, wait a bit, and you have bread.
jefftk 4y ago
Subsidies, primarily net metering. With panels on your house the grid is still providing you a key service, providing you with any power you need in excess of what you produce, and sinking any extra for you. But with net metering you only pay in proportion to your net usage, effectively compensating you at retail rates for the power you supply to the grid.
sbradford26 4y ago
Largely it is because you don't have to pay for delivery. It is very similar to having a well. If the water is available at your house already it is most likely cheaper to just pump it versus paying someone to supply water to your house.
alexose 4y ago
The short answer is delivery costs. And that's what makes this current era of solar power so exciting, in my opinion! The market is practically begging us for microgrids.
nightfly 4y ago
The equipment needed is hardly cheap though. And bread is a bad example, you can easily make that cheaper than retail price at home.
NotYourLawyer 4y ago
Subsidies?
bonzini 4y ago
Because the cost of grid electricity includes the comfort of having it 24/7. Solar is damn cheap, but you can rely on it perhaps 10% of the time (0 hours in very cloudy days up to 4-5 hours a day in the summer). There is some way to do some arbitrage even without net metering (charge your car during the day, install batteries) but solar alone is by far not enough to leave the grid.
analyte123 4y ago
It isn’t - other customers are paying for their ability to have electricity when (and how much) they want it, via the net metering subsidy. If you divide their cost by the lifetime expected generation, you get 9-13 cents per kWh depending on panel subsidy. This sounds great in California but isn’t far off from retail prices in some states. And the actual grid “wholesale” price is usually far less than that except at peak times or exceptional situations. You pay at retail to still have power in those situations. With net metering everyone else pays you that price for something you are not providing.

by mg 4y ago

ars 4y ago

Grid scale solar is half the price of home electricity. Also about half your bill is distribution fees. And, BTW, making bread at home is cheaper than buying it. Get a bread machine, put in ingredients, wait a bit, and you have bread.

jefftk 4y ago

Subsidies, primarily net metering. With panels on your house the grid is still providing you a key service, providing you with any power you need in excess of what you produce, and sinking any extra for you. But with net metering you only pay in proportion to your net usage, effectively compensating you at retail rates for the power you supply to the grid.

sbradford26 4y ago

Largely it is because you don't have to pay for delivery. It is very similar to having a well. If the water is available at your house already it is most likely cheaper to just pump it versus paying someone to supply water to your house.

alexose 4y ago

The short answer is delivery costs. And that's what makes this current era of solar power so exciting, in my opinion! The market is practically begging us for microgrids.

nightfly 4y ago

The equipment needed is hardly cheap though. And bread is a bad example, you can easily make that cheaper than retail price at home.

NotYourLawyer 4y ago

Subsidies?

bonzini 4y ago

Because the cost of grid electricity includes the comfort of having it 24/7. Solar is damn cheap, but you can rely on it perhaps 10% of the time (0 hours in very cloudy days up to 4-5 hours a day in the summer). There is some way to do some arbitrage even without net metering (charge your car during the day, install batteries) but solar alone is by far not enough to leave the grid.

analyte123 4y ago

It isn’t - other customers are paying for their ability to have electricity when (and how much) they want it, via the net metering subsidy. If you divide their cost by the lifetime expected generation, you get 9-13 cents per kWh depending on panel subsidy. This sounds great in California but isn’t far off from retail prices in some states. And the actual grid “wholesale” price is usually far less than that except at peak times or exceptional situations. You pay at retail to still have power in those situations. With net metering everyone else pays you that price for something you are not providing.