4 ms·

Sadly, all those points but 5 are also political. The US isn't serious about it, for whatever (political/economic) reasons. The UK, on the other hand: https://

by pjc50 2y ago

Sadly, all those points but 5 are also political. The US isn't serious about it, for whatever (political/economic) reasons. The UK, on the other hand: https://www.fmb.org.uk/homepicks/news/surge-in-solar-panel-installations/ https://www.fmb.org.uk/homepicks/news/surge-in-solar-panel-i... ; helped by an efficiency mandate on new houses.

piokoch 2y ago
Let's compare UK and USA electricity prices. https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-price... It seems that something is not working that great in the UK...
- youngtaff 2y ago
  UK electricity prices are set by the highest priced generator which is normally gas Eventually more green energy will overcome this issue Many of the commercial solar and wind farms run on a contracts for difference price - they're guaranteed a price for the energy they produce and when the market price goes over that a rebate get's paid to a Quango and should eventually feed into bills payers prices
  - frenchman_in_ny 2y ago
    Re "UK electricity prices are set by the highest priced generator which is normally gas" Worldwide, electricity prices are set by the highest priced generator at the given moment of needed generation -- it's the dispatch curve. And generally, the generators that are the fastest to spin up to meet that incremental load are natural gas fired generators. As to the GP's point, my intuition (happy to be proven wrong) is more that natural gas, and therefore electricity, is cheaper in the US, simply because it's more abundant in the US.
- jjav 2y ago
  > Let's compare UK and USA electricity prices. The USA is a huge place with prices all over the map. Here are PG&E electricity prices in California from my recent bill: peak: 53.0 + 18.3 = 71.3 c/kWh partpeak: 51.3 + 11.1 = 62.4 c/kWh offpeak: 34.4 + 09.8 = 44.2 c/kWh
huijzer 2y ago
> The US isn't serious about it, More than 40% of Texas's energy was carbon free already in 2022 [1], and they are still installing solar. Not on public lands, but most solar wasn't installed on public lands anyway. Having said that, in the big picture the US is far behind China indeed regarding solar renewable installations. Compared to the EU, California is far behind and Texas is a bit behind. Germany for example sits at around 50% renewable [2]. [1]: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/blue-states-dont-build-red-states https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/blue-states-dont-build-red-sta... [2]: https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/germany-sets-new-record-for-renewable-power/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/germany-sets-new-re...
- apexalpha 2y ago
  40% of Texas's electricity, not energy. There is still a lot of fossil energy consumed, too.
  - huijzer 2y ago
    Yeah sorry very silly mistake thanks for pointing it out. It makes a big difference indeed.
- jsbisviewtiful 2y ago
  Throwing it out there that, as a US citizen who has been looking at and wanting solar for about 3-4 years now, it's extremely unaffordable through the installers I've looked at previously. Some installers have quoted a total of double the cost of materials because they maintain the labor of a 1 day installation is worth 100% the cost of batteries and panels - which often brings the total to $30k-$40k USD. Some of these agreements you also have to read closely because there are some total garbage ownership rights in the contract, saying you are renting the panels and don't own them. I haven't looked yet in my new state because interest rates stopped falling after Biden left office, but my previous state made the entire process a racket.

by pjc50 2y ago

piokoch 2y ago

Let's compare UK and USA electricity prices. https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-price... It seems that something is not working that great in the UK...

youngtaff 2y ago
UK electricity prices are set by the highest priced generator which is normally gas Eventually more green energy will overcome this issue Many of the commercial solar and wind farms run on a contracts for difference price - they're guaranteed a price for the energy they produce and when the market price goes over that a rebate get's paid to a Quango and should eventually feed into bills payers prices
- frenchman_in_ny 2y ago
  Re "UK electricity prices are set by the highest priced generator which is normally gas" Worldwide, electricity prices are set by the highest priced generator at the given moment of needed generation -- it's the dispatch curve. And generally, the generators that are the fastest to spin up to meet that incremental load are natural gas fired generators. As to the GP's point, my intuition (happy to be proven wrong) is more that natural gas, and therefore electricity, is cheaper in the US, simply because it's more abundant in the US.
jjav 2y ago
> Let's compare UK and USA electricity prices. The USA is a huge place with prices all over the map. Here are PG&E electricity prices in California from my recent bill: peak: 53.0 + 18.3 = 71.3 c/kWh partpeak: 51.3 + 11.1 = 62.4 c/kWh offpeak: 34.4 + 09.8 = 44.2 c/kWh

huijzer 2y ago

> The US isn't serious about it, More than 40% of Texas's energy was carbon free already in 2022 [1], and they are still installing solar. Not on public lands, but most solar wasn't installed on public lands anyway. Having said that, in the big picture the US is far behind China indeed regarding solar renewable installations. Compared to the EU, California is far behind and Texas is a bit behind. Germany for example sits at around 50% renewable [2]. [1]: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/blue-states-dont-build-red-states https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/blue-states-dont-build-red-sta... [2]: https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/germany-sets-new-record-for-renewable-power/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/germany-sets-new-re...

apexalpha 2y ago
40% of Texas's electricity, not energy. There is still a lot of fossil energy consumed, too.
- huijzer 2y ago
  Yeah sorry very silly mistake thanks for pointing it out. It makes a big difference indeed.
jsbisviewtiful 2y ago
Throwing it out there that, as a US citizen who has been looking at and wanting solar for about 3-4 years now, it's extremely unaffordable through the installers I've looked at previously. Some installers have quoted a total of double the cost of materials because they maintain the labor of a 1 day installation is worth 100% the cost of batteries and panels - which often brings the total to $30k-$40k USD. Some of these agreements you also have to read closely because there are some total garbage ownership rights in the contract, saying you are renting the panels and don't own them. I haven't looked yet in my new state because interest rates stopped falling after Biden left office, but my previous state made the entire process a racket.