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Except that is the opposite of reality in the USA. The fraction of energy generated from small scale PV generation in the USA has decreased as total PV generati

by Veserv 2y ago

Except that is the opposite of reality in the USA. The fraction of energy generated from small scale PV generation in the USA has decreased as total PV generation has increased [1]. 10 years ago, in 2014, utility scale PV generation was 57%. Over those 10 years, utility scale PV generation increased by ~10x, where as small scale PV generation only increased by ~6.5x. In spite of absolutely massive incentives, small scale PV generation has grown slower in absolute and percentage terms in nearly every single year of the last decade. Scale is the really important thing here. It is really easy and really cheap to use economies of scale to purchase square kilometers of panels and plop them down in bulk over vast swathes of regular land in a assembly line fashion. [1] https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_03_01_b.html https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_03_01_b.html

glial 2y ago
> absolutely massive incentives At least where I live, solar is still roughly break even cost-wise with not installing solar over 20 years -- but it increases your home's complexity and makes updating your roof more complicated and expensive.
- bruce511 2y ago
  The math varies a lot by location. In the US the costs of gear and install are typically higher (twice as high as here.) It'll also obviously be a factor of electricity cost, sunny days, your residential consumption and so on. Personally I get 17.5% return on capital spent (and ways to improve that further) so the math works out well. Ymmv.
- dzhiurgis 2y ago
  Same here. I live where there’s ton of sun, but power is cheap and install is expensive and not subsidised. Dad lives in northern europe, power is 2x more and install is 2x and subsidised. In december he generates like 20kwh per month from 8kw array. Still already paid itself after few years.
bmicraft 2y ago
Let's face it: electricity is dirt cheap in the US compared to other developed countries. If you have grid access you don't really benefit significantly from solar. That both explains why it was adopted relatively early for private use cases as well as why it doesn't grow as much as commercial installations as equipment gets cheaper.

by Veserv 2y ago

glial 2y ago

> absolutely massive incentives At least where I live, solar is still roughly break even cost-wise with not installing solar over 20 years -- but it increases your home's complexity and makes updating your roof more complicated and expensive.

bruce511 2y ago
The math varies a lot by location. In the US the costs of gear and install are typically higher (twice as high as here.) It'll also obviously be a factor of electricity cost, sunny days, your residential consumption and so on. Personally I get 17.5% return on capital spent (and ways to improve that further) so the math works out well. Ymmv.
dzhiurgis 2y ago
Same here. I live where there’s ton of sun, but power is cheap and install is expensive and not subsidised. Dad lives in northern europe, power is 2x more and install is 2x and subsidised. In december he generates like 20kwh per month from 8kw array. Still already paid itself after few years.

bmicraft 2y ago

Let's face it: electricity is dirt cheap in the US compared to other developed countries. If you have grid access you don't really benefit significantly from solar. That both explains why it was adopted relatively early for private use cases as well as why it doesn't grow as much as commercial installations as equipment gets cheaper.