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Solar Overtakes Coal in US Electricity for the First Month on Record`

24 points by karakoram 4mo ago

smallerize 4mo ago
Does this include residential solar? How do they measure or estimate that?
- ivanjermakov 4mo ago
  > How do they measure or estimate that? I suppose they can compare actual grid usage with household data to estimate off-grid usage.
visha1v 4mo ago
incredible milestone, but getting the power where it needs to go and storing it at scale are still the biggest problems. making the power is solved, moving it is next.
- CharlesW 4mo ago
  I think I'm missing your point. I'm under the impression that electricity has never been easy or cheap to move very far, and it's not clear to me how solar-generated electricity is different in that respect.
  - diordiderot 4mo ago
    You're mixing up two different things. Moving electricity with HVDC is easy and cheap... building the grid infrastructure is, well, not so easy or cheap. The system cost depends on connection queues, transmission buildout, substations, transformers, planning permission, curtailment, etc. Production of transformers, cables, and labour capacity are bottlenecks. Planning is a bottleneck.
  - visha1v 4mo ago
    solar farms are often far from cities. moving that new power across the country is the real test.
- AtlasBarfed 4mo ago
  Not for residential power... It annoys me grid issues get screamed at the top of the lungs in solar/wind, but powering AI DCs is crickets. If grid concerns are that great then subsidize home solar + storage. Oh wait! Power companies hate that. Really? This is all posturing for maintaining regulatory capture and increasing monetary draws from government subsidies they go to the power companies and not with their customers.
  - visha1v 4mo ago
    home solar is great. but big cities still need a massive grid update to use pure green power.
    - AtlasBarfed 4mo ago
      Why? Have solar + storage handle 60-80% of home electric needs, and the existing grid and generation fill the gaps. Yeah, if the power companies want to install solar/wind/storage, they need to do changes. But hey, the LCOE of those is comprehensively less than coal/nuclear, even combined gas cycle now in many cases. So the utility company will do all of that because that way it makes more money.
ChrisArchitect 4mo ago
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48492306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48492306

24 points by karakoram 4mo ago

smallerize 4mo ago

Does this include residential solar? How do they measure or estimate that?

ivanjermakov 4mo ago
> How do they measure or estimate that? I suppose they can compare actual grid usage with household data to estimate off-grid usage.

visha1v 4mo ago

incredible milestone, but getting the power where it needs to go and storing it at scale are still the biggest problems. making the power is solved, moving it is next.

CharlesW 4mo ago
I think I'm missing your point. I'm under the impression that electricity has never been easy or cheap to move very far, and it's not clear to me how solar-generated electricity is different in that respect.
- diordiderot 4mo ago
  You're mixing up two different things. Moving electricity with HVDC is easy and cheap... building the grid infrastructure is, well, not so easy or cheap. The system cost depends on connection queues, transmission buildout, substations, transformers, planning permission, curtailment, etc. Production of transformers, cables, and labour capacity are bottlenecks. Planning is a bottleneck.
- visha1v 4mo ago
  solar farms are often far from cities. moving that new power across the country is the real test.
AtlasBarfed 4mo ago
Not for residential power... It annoys me grid issues get screamed at the top of the lungs in solar/wind, but powering AI DCs is crickets. If grid concerns are that great then subsidize home solar + storage. Oh wait! Power companies hate that. Really? This is all posturing for maintaining regulatory capture and increasing monetary draws from government subsidies they go to the power companies and not with their customers.
- visha1v 4mo ago
  home solar is great. but big cities still need a massive grid update to use pure green power.
  - AtlasBarfed 4mo ago
    Why? Have solar + storage handle 60-80% of home electric needs, and the existing grid and generation fill the gaps. Yeah, if the power companies want to install solar/wind/storage, they need to do changes. But hey, the LCOE of those is comprehensively less than coal/nuclear, even combined gas cycle now in many cases. So the utility company will do all of that because that way it makes more money.

ChrisArchitect 4mo ago

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48492306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48492306