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> when you're generating off solar or wind, who cares if it's efficient Whoever pays for the electricity, most likely. If you don't connect neighborhoods and

> when you're generating off solar or wind, who cares if it's efficient Whoever pays for the electricity, most likely. If you don't connect neighborhoods and each block or even house is an off-grid island, your reliability will suffer because you'll need large margins everywhere. If you do connect them, you have that "transmission infrastructure". Rooftop is great because it gives you a feeling of security and being self-sustaining, but if you want impact, it's probably much more efficient to have technicians install panels en masse at large installations than do one-off jobs on all those custom homes.

jacquesm 4y ago
This is true, but with electric cars becoming more and more widespread local generation is having a measurable impact on daytime generation. It also offloads the grid because every KWh generated locally and consumed relatively locally doesn't need long haul transmission, as opposed to 'large installations'.
ok_dad 4y ago
You can reduce transmission infra considerably, probably not eliminate it though. I am not advocating for islanding, I am advocating for something like the internet's smartly distributed network for the power grid. I do work in the industry, so while I'm not completely knowledgeable I do have knowledge that makes me think this is the way for the future. You're not going to eliminate all centralized generation, of course, especially for solar! However, smaller installations of solar, wind, batteries, and etc. are useful for reducing the transmission grid requirements and increasing reliability and distribution capabilities. If you do end up with transmission lines disconnected, it's a good idea to have some capability to island and generate some portion of the power locally. I say "who cares" about efficiency, because the efficiency gains on the technologies involved with distributed grids and the cost reductions over time will make it "not matter much" because it will be relative pennies compared to today's infrastructure. It will be worth it to overbuild the distributed infrastructure in order to achieve better reliability. Energy is a necessity today, and will be a literal life-saver when climate change causes massive shifts in the climate where people currently live and won't want to abandon. We have to make it more reliable than it is with today's centralized system. tl;dr: I am advocating for more distributed hardware + software that will make the grid more reliable in the face of disconnections and transmission infra failure, not distributing generation completely to the end-user thus requiring them to generate their own power, only a portion of it.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  That makes very good sense, and I would be very happy to participate in such a scheme if it were on offer.

jacquesm 4y ago

This is true, but with electric cars becoming more and more widespread local generation is having a measurable impact on daytime generation. It also offloads the grid because every KWh generated locally and consumed relatively locally doesn't need long haul transmission, as opposed to 'large installations'.

ok_dad 4y ago

You can reduce transmission infra considerably, probably not eliminate it though. I am not advocating for islanding, I am advocating for something like the internet's smartly distributed network for the power grid. I do work in the industry, so while I'm not completely knowledgeable I do have knowledge that makes me think this is the way for the future. You're not going to eliminate all centralized generation, of course, especially for solar! However, smaller installations of solar, wind, batteries, and etc. are useful for reducing the transmission grid requirements and increasing reliability and distribution capabilities. If you do end up with transmission lines disconnected, it's a good idea to have some capability to island and generate some portion of the power locally. I say "who cares" about efficiency, because the efficiency gains on the technologies involved with distributed grids and the cost reductions over time will make it "not matter much" because it will be relative pennies compared to today's infrastructure. It will be worth it to overbuild the distributed infrastructure in order to achieve better reliability. Energy is a necessity today, and will be a literal life-saver when climate change causes massive shifts in the climate where people currently live and won't want to abandon. We have to make it more reliable than it is with today's centralized system. tl;dr: I am advocating for more distributed hardware + software that will make the grid more reliable in the face of disconnections and transmission infra failure, not distributing generation completely to the end-user thus requiring them to generate their own power, only a portion of it.

jacquesm 4y ago
That makes very good sense, and I would be very happy to participate in such a scheme if it were on offer.