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Classic case of people not wanting to give up a subsidy. It's not sustainable or efficient to continue subsidising solar at this point. If we paid wholesale pr

Classic case of people not wanting to give up a subsidy. It's not sustainable or efficient to continue subsidising solar at this point. If we paid wholesale prices for electricity generated by solar customers, incentives would shift - getting 0-5c on your solar energy would demonstrate that the grid doesn't actually need more energy during the day - the 50c+ prices in the evening would show that we need more batteries (or other dispatchable power)

somethoughts 1y ago
A fun theory I have is that once you start seeing industry trade group sponsored lobbyists and influence marketing campaigns matching the level of spending of entrenched industries, you can probably start lowering the subsidies for said industry. Like once we start referring to the solar industry trade group as Big Solar or Big Clean Energy...
- Calwestjobs 1y ago
  subsidies are bad but they are there not for big solar, but for big not smart brains which need to see freaking solar panels on neighbors roof to want that too. solar + 12 hour LiFePO storage is cheaper than nuclear TCO, in all US territories south of canada. today ( except tariffs, so... who benefits? big solar or big russia, big UAE ? ) get ......! XD https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/24/elon-musk-xai-memphis https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/24/elon-musk...
lesuorac 1y ago
We always need more power during the day ... There's huge swing between day-time (think AC and factories) usage and night-time (people sleeping ...). https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42915 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42915
- pfdietz 1y ago
  Install enough solar and that stops being true. In the limit, we have a grid where people make their own power during the summer and the grid only sells during winter (and rare extended cloudy periods). Imagine what rates would have to look like in that situation.
  - Calwestjobs 1y ago
    120% of price of nuclear electricity (unless they will sell heat too, but not gonna happen in USA where district heating sin nonexistent) and check my profile links for more of that 120% energy price. SEASONAL.

somethoughts 1y ago

A fun theory I have is that once you start seeing industry trade group sponsored lobbyists and influence marketing campaigns matching the level of spending of entrenched industries, you can probably start lowering the subsidies for said industry. Like once we start referring to the solar industry trade group as Big Solar or Big Clean Energy...

Calwestjobs 1y ago
subsidies are bad but they are there not for big solar, but for big not smart brains which need to see freaking solar panels on neighbors roof to want that too. solar + 12 hour LiFePO storage is cheaper than nuclear TCO, in all US territories south of canada. today ( except tariffs, so... who benefits? big solar or big russia, big UAE ? ) get ......! XD https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/24/elon-musk-xai-memphis https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/24/elon-musk...

lesuorac 1y ago

We always need more power during the day ... There's huge swing between day-time (think AC and factories) usage and night-time (people sleeping ...). https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42915 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42915

pfdietz 1y ago
Install enough solar and that stops being true. In the limit, we have a grid where people make their own power during the summer and the grid only sells during winter (and rare extended cloudy periods). Imagine what rates would have to look like in that situation.
- Calwestjobs 1y ago
  120% of price of nuclear electricity (unless they will sell heat too, but not gonna happen in USA where district heating sin nonexistent) and check my profile links for more of that 120% energy price. SEASONAL.