5 ms·

It's just amazing how over the past 10 years it's like the whole world rediscovered electricity.

• epistasis 1y ago
  What always shocked me were the number of tech-oriented people that were are not aware of the tremendous progress in lithium ion batteries. And not just in the cost, performance, and reduction in materials needed. Production capacity grows by 10x in a mere five years. We were at 1.2TWh of production in 2024, and will be at ~20TWh in 2030. When batteries are eventually recycled, they get recycled into a higher power capacity than went in because recovery of materials is high and gains in production are even higher. The global average cost of solar panels is $90/kW. With high tariffs, it's $150/kW in India and $270/kW in the US. Raising tariffs is something like 6 months of price drops. (Meanwhile installed, it costs $500-$3000 on residential properties...) Solar and storage are some of the most impressive technologies of the past century, and so many people are sleeping on the huge changes it will have.
  • AdrianB1 1y ago
    I think these days the solar panels and even batteries are quite cheap, but the equipment needed build a hybrid system for a house is still a mess. One can find the right inverter, but not a good match for the battery, the backup/switching system that needs to match, DC fuse boxes, especially for European systems that are 230V and sometimes 3-phase, the progress is not good enough even if the problem is simple enough.
  • stavros 1y ago
    And yet my VTC-6 are still the same capacity as five years ago :(
    • epistasis 1y ago
      hah, well it appears that the capacity may be part of the standardization for that?
      • stavros 1y ago
        Oh I'd really hope not, who wouldn't want higher capacity 18650 cells? Maybe they wouldn't be VTC-6, but those are the highest capacity cells I've managed to find!
        • aidenn0 1y ago
          If they changed it you'd need a new BMC, right?
          • stavros 1y ago
            No, the BMC tends to not care about capacity. You'd maybe need to change the software, but because the capacity changes over the lifetime of the battery, the BMC tends to go by voltage anyway.
  • username223 1y ago
    > The global average cost of solar panels is $90/kW. I don't remember where I read about it first, but the fact that Pakistan is installing gigawatts of solar panels per year made me smile. It's not a coordinated effort, either; people choosing between (1) relying on janky transmission lines, (2) feeding a diesel generator, and (3) buying a rectangle that creates electricity and a cheap battery tend to choose option 3.
    • faizan-ali 1y ago
      Unfortunately this means the government is going bankrupt keeping power generation online for non-solar/evening only users.
      • andruby 11mo ago
        Why would that bankrupt them? Because there is scale reduction in total generated power?
  • 2Gkashmiri 1y ago
    Right now in India, a 3kWh solar on grid system costs after subsidty a whopping USD $650 OR INR60000.00 The on grid includes panels On grid inverter Wiring Instslation and earthing
    • DarmokJalad1701 1y ago
      Do you mean kW? A 3kWh system (assuming that's the annual production), is minuscule.
      • 2Gkashmiri 1y ago
        3000 WATTS PANELS
• shadyfroyo 1y ago
  High power high voltage switching ICs have caught up.