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This is in my opinion a bad solution to the problem of expensive energy or renewable transition. Having individuals start managing their power via plugin solar
by AuthAuth 2mo ago
This is in my opinion a bad solution to the problem of expensive energy or renewable transition. Having individuals start managing their power via plugin solar and plugin batteries creates a gap between the people who can afford it and those who cant. The people who cant afford it end up paying more for electricity.
A better solution is to do this on a local or federal government level and build the required amount of power.
- argentinian 2mo agoIf demand decreases then that can cause energy to become cheaper.
- AuthAuth 2mo agoif demand drops to 0 you still need to pay money to run a power grid and the energy gen capacity.
- argentinian 2mo agoNo, if demand is 0 you wouldn't have a reason to run that.
- missedthecue 2mo agoI dont understand it. If most grid capacity is already installed, the people who don't build their own little island with solar and batteries end up being shrinking demand against a pool of fixed supply. Meaning their bills probably decrease. There is the hiccup of universal distribution which needs regular maintenance, and is separate from electrical supply. But if this is remediated by charging solar owners base fees/connection fees, or if grid maintenance is only minority portion of electric utility bills (in the US it's about 40% with electricity production being 60%), the direction should still be poorer people proportionally benefitting.
- AuthAuth 2mo agoThe power capacity is already built out. They shrink the demand(and revenue) of that built out capacity. But then when renewable power is bad they pop back onto the grid to spike demand. The get to enjoy the best of all worlds free energy when its good and the safety of the grid while the grid gets the worst of all worlds a non paying household that will spike demand at the worst time.
- triceratops 2mo agoEnergy is expensive due because demand exceeds supply. Individuals generating their own energy are increasing supply. This is different from net metering at retail rates, which arguably does move costs from richer ratepayers to poorer ones.
- shostack 2mo agoExcept California where it is expensive due to pg&e and corruption.
- AuthAuth 2mo agoThe grid is made up of many different energy generating parts. Some are cheap to gen energy like solar others are expensive but consistent like gas. Utiliy companies sell the power to cover the costs of maintaining all these core parts of the grid. Personal solar decreases revenue because you have people generating energy and either using it or selling it back to the grid this is money that is taken away from grid maintenance. But when there is a low amount of solar they will all want to draw from the grid. This puts extra burden on government/poor electricity buyers who cant afford solar to now cover the cost of the grid.
- Lio 2mo agoPlugin solar is really cheap though. It's possible the price of an 800W kit drops to $200. That's really not a lot for something that could pay for itself in a year and keep saving you money for years to come. Then there's the prospect of the price dropping even lower in the next few years. Imagine 800w kits for $100. How can you ignore something like that?
- grebc 2mo agoYou basically kill any momentum of that happening in any reasonable timeframe the minute you said government. In Australia there’s a ridiculous amount of household solar & now battery being installed. Despite all the attempts by companies/governments to do something, they just keep getting in the way of themselves. I’m glad the option exists for people to go their own, that of course puts the bar at the individuals finances.
- AndrewDucker 2mo agoHow would this make it more expensive for people who can't?
- syntaxing 2mo agoBecause distribution prices are spread throughout the users. This is the case for policies that allow the rich to be completely off grid which is not the case here in the US (most cap off around 1500W).
- AndrewDucker 2mo agoAah. Certainly over here in UK and Europe most people are using solar to reduce their usage of the grid but they're nowhere near going self-reliant, so they're still using the grid (and paying towards it).
- AndrewDucker 2mo agoAah. Certainly over here in UK and Europe most people are using solar to reduce their usage of the grid but they're nowhere near going self-reliant, so they're still using the grid (and paying towards it).