4 ms·
I imagine largely because it can happen much quicker than grid scale projects, as it's a lot easier for thousands of individuals to make modest personal investm
by rfwhyte 3y ago
I imagine largely because it can happen much quicker than grid scale projects, as it's a lot easier for thousands of individuals to make modest personal investments, than it is for governments to make huge capital investments. Plus the reduced dependency on the grid would reduce peak loads and improve grid stability for all users.
- callalex 3y agoIt’s not clear at all to me that hiring individual contractors piecemeal for 2-8kW of capacity hundreds of thousands to millions of times vs a few MW scale plants dozens of times is quicker to implement. Also power generation is typically not done by the government but by private for profits. As far as peak load solar doesn’t solve the problem for grid operators because peak electricity demand happens well after the sun stops producing which means that solar users are simultaneously paying less to maintain the grid while also putting the most variable load on the grid. This problem has been very thoroughly explored and debated, it is called the “duck curve” problem. The only solution to the duck curve problem is storage. That puts us back at square 1 where individuals operating small batteries and inverters cannot be as efficient as large scale battery banks that prolong the life of the same batteries through better thermal management and larger and fewer inverters etc.