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It's worth pointing out for those of us in the US that Germany has less solar insolation than anywhere in the continental US: https://globalsolaratlas.info/map

It's worth pointing out for those of us in the US that Germany has less solar insolation than anywhere in the continental US: https://globalsolaratlas.info/map?c=44.933135,-144.991617,3 https://globalsolaratlas.info/map?c=44.933135,-144.991617,3 If Germany can do this much solar, than New England is going to have a much much easier go of it. And why isn't there far more solar in Florida, when solar is such a cheap source of electricity for running all that AC? Because of regulatory capture by utilities and fossil fuel interests.

brnt 3y ago
Why dont Floridians install panels themselves? Airco use correlates strongly with sunshine, so I imagine they pay themselves back within a year or three.
- zdragnar 3y ago
  Hurricanes, probably.
- ozim 3y ago
  PV is a bit counterintuitive in that it loses efficiency when it gets hot. Best efficiency is when circuitry is a bit colder and not in full sunshine and 30+ degrees C. Full sunshine around 15-20C works well. So coupling AC with PV seems like a no brainer it doesn’t work that well when you really want to blast that AC full power because panels get too hot from the outside temperature.
  - fullspectrumdev 3y ago
    Is it possible to use some form of cooling on the panels? The heat would need to fuck off to somewhere though…
  - someplaceguy 3y ago
    > PV is a bit counterintuitive in that it loses efficiency when it gets hot. Is that significant enough to matter? How much does it lose?
  - patall 3y ago
    There was a comment here on hn from a guy that measured the heat effect. For them the loss in efficiency was 12%. Which would be somewhat negligible. Edit: here it is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38688116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38688116
  - brnt 3y ago
    Efficiency isn't the uptimate goal, that is: do you get enough power per currency spent? Efficiency may drop, power output won't. It might plateau, but that's OK.
- epistasis 3y ago
  Good question! First, will the utility let you do it, second will they charge you excessively for the privilege, third, will your local municipality allow it, fourth is there a base of skilled labor to make it happen? Germany got around all these obstacles, but if the state and utilities are in the way, it's hard for individuals to make the move to solar.
ajross 3y ago
FWIW, the US is only slightly behind Germany in PV solar generating capacity per capita, and IIRC is building out both solar and wind faster per capita than pretty much anywhere else. There's lots more to do. There are certainly things to complain about (c.f. Florida regulatory capture, something I would believe but know nothing about). But the US isn't really "behind".
- ffgjgf1 3y ago
  On the whole solar is massively more practical in the US than Germany. Northernmost most point in the continental US is about on the same latitude as as the southern most parts of Germany. In much of Europe solar is pretty much useless during winter
infecto 3y ago
I really dislike these baseless claims. At least provide some backing evidence. Y’all always like to spout regulator capture but when I go look at the data it does not seem to back it up. 2021 stats Florida is the second largest generator. And third largest in solar. Natty gas dominates their generation mix but I wonder if it’s more than just the blanket complaint regulatory capture. Florida is pretty unique as a state, lots of wetlands, is this suitable for solar? Perhaps for the electric companies there on a cost per acre basis it’s easier to build out natty plants? It would make some sense because I don’t think Florida has as much accessible land as other states do.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
anonporridge 3y ago
> And why isn't there far more solar in Florida One reason might be that Florida likely experiences much more destructive storms on a regular basis. Germany doesn't. Texas and California (the US leaders) also have more protected land area. The economic calculations look different if you have to factor in the relatively common risk of a hurricane wiping out your entire capital investment every few years. That being said, Florida is recently surging in solar deployment. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/florida-is-now-adding-more-solar-power-than-any-other-state https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/florida-is-now-ad... Texas and Florida are actually great canaries to judge whether wind and solar are actually becoming economically viable. You know that they don't have the politics that would artificially subsidize and try to force them to happen. Like you suggest, if anything, they try to resist. Texas is the renewable energy leader in the US purely because it makes $en$e.
- epistasis 3y ago
  Panels are (surprisingly) very resistant to hurricanes: https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/what-happens-to-solar-panels-in-a-hurricane https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/what-happens-to-solar-pane... Glad to see the surge in Florida, it's long overdue!
  - anonporridge 3y ago
    Cool!
- matthewdgreen 3y ago
  In Florida any home system over 10KW requires you to purchase $1m in liability insurance if you intend to connect to the grid and participate in net metering. This is not insurance against destruction, it’s liability insurance in case your solar plant hurts someone. Needless to say this requirement does not exist in other states with successful net metering programs, it was invented to discourage rooftop solar. And this is just the highly-visible stuff. You can only imagine what other disincentives the powerful energy company lobbiests have used to discourage other solar installations in the past. PS I’ve now seen multiple commenters explaining that solar in Florida is rare because of hurricane risk. This makes me wonder if some PR firm is circulating this as a talking point.

brnt 3y ago

Why dont Floridians install panels themselves? Airco use correlates strongly with sunshine, so I imagine they pay themselves back within a year or three.

zdragnar 3y ago
Hurricanes, probably.
ozim 3y ago
PV is a bit counterintuitive in that it loses efficiency when it gets hot. Best efficiency is when circuitry is a bit colder and not in full sunshine and 30+ degrees C. Full sunshine around 15-20C works well. So coupling AC with PV seems like a no brainer it doesn’t work that well when you really want to blast that AC full power because panels get too hot from the outside temperature.
- fullspectrumdev 3y ago
  Is it possible to use some form of cooling on the panels? The heat would need to fuck off to somewhere though…
- someplaceguy 3y ago
  > PV is a bit counterintuitive in that it loses efficiency when it gets hot. Is that significant enough to matter? How much does it lose?
- patall 3y ago
  There was a comment here on hn from a guy that measured the heat effect. For them the loss in efficiency was 12%. Which would be somewhat negligible. Edit: here it is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38688116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38688116
- brnt 3y ago
  Efficiency isn't the uptimate goal, that is: do you get enough power per currency spent? Efficiency may drop, power output won't. It might plateau, but that's OK.
epistasis 3y ago
Good question! First, will the utility let you do it, second will they charge you excessively for the privilege, third, will your local municipality allow it, fourth is there a base of skilled labor to make it happen? Germany got around all these obstacles, but if the state and utilities are in the way, it's hard for individuals to make the move to solar.

ajross 3y ago

FWIW, the US is only slightly behind Germany in PV solar generating capacity per capita, and IIRC is building out both solar and wind faster per capita than pretty much anywhere else. There's lots more to do. There are certainly things to complain about (c.f. Florida regulatory capture, something I would believe but know nothing about). But the US isn't really "behind".

ffgjgf1 3y ago
On the whole solar is massively more practical in the US than Germany. Northernmost most point in the continental US is about on the same latitude as as the southern most parts of Germany. In much of Europe solar is pretty much useless during winter

infecto 3y ago

I really dislike these baseless claims. At least provide some backing evidence. Y’all always like to spout regulator capture but when I go look at the data it does not seem to back it up. 2021 stats Florida is the second largest generator. And third largest in solar. Natty gas dominates their generation mix but I wonder if it’s more than just the blanket complaint regulatory capture. Florida is pretty unique as a state, lots of wetlands, is this suitable for solar? Perhaps for the electric companies there on a cost per acre basis it’s easier to build out natty plants? It would make some sense because I don’t think Florida has as much accessible land as other states do.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

anonporridge 3y ago

> And why isn't there far more solar in Florida One reason might be that Florida likely experiences much more destructive storms on a regular basis. Germany doesn't. Texas and California (the US leaders) also have more protected land area. The economic calculations look different if you have to factor in the relatively common risk of a hurricane wiping out your entire capital investment every few years. That being said, Florida is recently surging in solar deployment. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/florida-is-now-adding-more-solar-power-than-any-other-state https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/florida-is-now-ad... Texas and Florida are actually great canaries to judge whether wind and solar are actually becoming economically viable. You know that they don't have the politics that would artificially subsidize and try to force them to happen. Like you suggest, if anything, they try to resist. Texas is the renewable energy leader in the US purely because it makes $en$e.

epistasis 3y ago
Panels are (surprisingly) very resistant to hurricanes: https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/what-happens-to-solar-panels-in-a-hurricane https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/what-happens-to-solar-pane... Glad to see the surge in Florida, it's long overdue!
- anonporridge 3y ago
  Cool!
matthewdgreen 3y ago
In Florida any home system over 10KW requires you to purchase $1m in liability insurance if you intend to connect to the grid and participate in net metering. This is not insurance against destruction, it’s liability insurance in case your solar plant hurts someone. Needless to say this requirement does not exist in other states with successful net metering programs, it was invented to discourage rooftop solar. And this is just the highly-visible stuff. You can only imagine what other disincentives the powerful energy company lobbiests have used to discourage other solar installations in the past. PS I’ve now seen multiple commenters explaining that solar in Florida is rare because of hurricane risk. This makes me wonder if some PR firm is circulating this as a talking point.