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> harder it is for generation plants to stay profitable Why should I be sympathetic to the profits of some random company? Let the market figure it out. Suppr

> harder it is for generation plants to stay profitable Why should I be sympathetic to the profits of some random company? Let the market figure it out. Suppressing community solar is suppressing the free market. It's not right.

spywaregorilla 3y ago
You should be sympathetic to the random company because it keeps the lights on for millions of people. If a handful of people have the ability to say "I've taken care of ME, so I'm not going to engage with society anymore", then they may put an impractically large burden on their neighbor who lacks the capital to build their own solar. You should also be sympathetic to the fact that the folks with their own solar still want to be attached to the grid without paying for its upkeep and that's not fair. You absolutely, 100%, do not want free market economics on power! This is a necessity that has a huge capital cost meaning you are often given only a single company that can supply you with energy. You do NOT want that to be a free market. You want the government to protect your rates, which they do.
TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
If it would be up to free market, you would be paying for supplying electricity from your solar panels to the grid during day (because there is nowhere to store it) and paying for feeding electricity of the grid during the night (because somebody must make it)
- sebular 3y ago
  Nobody would pay to supply to the grid. If it came to that, panels would have an automatic shutoff, or some device that burns off excess electricity by doing pointless work.
  - TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
    It is called negative prices and it is actual problem https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/eu-must-address-wasted-green-energy-and-negative-prices-says-solar-industry/ https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/eu-must-address...
- smileysteve 3y ago
  That's odd, because traditionally, daytime generation is the hardest for utilities to keep up with, especially with factories (induction motors), offices, and residential HVACs - all of which are used less outside the day shift (before sunset). So much so that many time of use programs are most expensive from 10am-7pm (DST)
ars 3y ago
They aren't "suppressing" them. They don't like that community solar wants to skim the easy parts, and let the grid handle the hard, expensive, parts.
- miguelazo 3y ago
  The investor owned utilities generally make money off transmission, thus they prefer large solar farms that are generally far away and located in ecologically sensitive areas.

spywaregorilla 3y ago

You should be sympathetic to the random company because it keeps the lights on for millions of people. If a handful of people have the ability to say "I've taken care of ME, so I'm not going to engage with society anymore", then they may put an impractically large burden on their neighbor who lacks the capital to build their own solar. You should also be sympathetic to the fact that the folks with their own solar still want to be attached to the grid without paying for its upkeep and that's not fair. You absolutely, 100%, do not want free market economics on power! This is a necessity that has a huge capital cost meaning you are often given only a single company that can supply you with energy. You do NOT want that to be a free market. You want the government to protect your rates, which they do.

TheLoafOfBread 3y ago

If it would be up to free market, you would be paying for supplying electricity from your solar panels to the grid during day (because there is nowhere to store it) and paying for feeding electricity of the grid during the night (because somebody must make it)

sebular 3y ago
Nobody would pay to supply to the grid. If it came to that, panels would have an automatic shutoff, or some device that burns off excess electricity by doing pointless work.
- TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
  It is called negative prices and it is actual problem https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/eu-must-address-wasted-green-energy-and-negative-prices-says-solar-industry/ https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/eu-must-address...
smileysteve 3y ago
That's odd, because traditionally, daytime generation is the hardest for utilities to keep up with, especially with factories (induction motors), offices, and residential HVACs - all of which are used less outside the day shift (before sunset). So much so that many time of use programs are most expensive from 10am-7pm (DST)

ars 3y ago

They aren't "suppressing" them. They don't like that community solar wants to skim the easy parts, and let the grid handle the hard, expensive, parts.

miguelazo 3y ago
The investor owned utilities generally make money off transmission, thus they prefer large solar farms that are generally far away and located in ecologically sensitive areas.