This solution won't work if the sun ceases to emit light, therefore it's not fool proof.
I kid, but - why so much pessimistic "all or nothing" attitude on this?
Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
61–70 of 352 posts
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
The bit about storage becoming a routine part of bids was an interesting piece of information.
I was thinking the same thing. The gigafactory isn't mention in this, but could there be synergies with Tesla's (somewhat shady... pun intended) acquisition of SolarCity? These sorts of installs aren't exactly the same thing, but maybe SolarCity needs to pivot to from distributed consumer to large scale utility.
Tesla has already deployed utility-scale storage in Australia and has contracts to build more for California utilities. Those are just the ones I know of.
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Various data here: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/wholesale/ From my brief browsing, $23.76 is <70% of the average $/MWh price across the available data.
That's mind boggling. This is absolutely incredible. Our country has so000 much hot, sunny unused land in the west. Let's cover it up with solar panels and make use of the free sunshine.
Storage and transmission are the ongoing problems here. Also applies to wind on the Great Plains.
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#64Slightly off topic... Interesting thing about solar in Utah (maybe everywhere? Not sure about the specifics): Utah gives every land owner pollution credits. They're allowed to pollute X units worth per year or something like that. Depending on certain criteria you're allotted a certain amount of credits. The problem is, these credits are transferable. So if I, for example, don't pollute, I can sell my credits off to…
I've never heard of this. What is the name of Utah's "pollution credit" program and where can I find out more? Google isn't helping me.
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#65The internal combustion engine seems to have been milked for all the efficiency our current materials can get out of it, while new materials and economies of scale in solar tech keep pushing prices lower. However, material science could also revolutionize the efficiency of engines and make them cost competitive with solar again. Solar-ification seems to be the trend, but it is not guaranteed.
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#66Slightly off topic... Interesting thing about solar in Utah (maybe everywhere? Not sure about the specifics): Utah gives every land owner pollution credits. They're allowed to pollute X units worth per year or something like that. Depending on certain criteria you're allotted a certain amount of credits. The problem is, these credits are transferable. So if I, for example, don't pollute, I can sell my credits off to…
It sounds like a fantastic loophole that allows companies to break regulations. I love capitalism.
Then you haven't done enough research on cap and trade, which the vast majority of environmental studies show is an extremely effective way to manage the problem.
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#67I would not trust a source called "earther.com" to tell me good news about solar because they're clearly going to be biased. When power industry magazines talk about solar being cheap then i'll believe it
Is there anything specific about that source besides the name that increases your skepticism? By that logic, one could say that anyone posting under a pseudonym containing "sol" shouldn't be trusted when they comment on a solar topic either.
>Is there anything specific about that source besides the name that increases your skepticism?
1. It's from the Gawker network, which is known for clickbait, yellow journalism, and half-truths.
2. They don't cite their sources. All links (except 1) in the article just lead to past articles they've written. The only external link is about a report unrelated to the main article.
Here is a better article published a day before this one which gives more details and actually lists their sources.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/nv-energy-23-cent-solar-con...
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you live in Ohio that is a problem, solar isn't going to keep you warm on a cold night Houses built to the German Passivhaus standard would do just fine in Ohio. I used to live in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, so I should know. There was one Minnesota church built with polystyrene panels that had to start running air conditioning in the middle of winter, the insulation was so good. If you live in the South West t…
is the expense of desalinization the electricity? Which would go down with adoption of solar?
This is a decade old, but I think that the proportions are still about right: https://desline.com/Geneva/Banat.pdf
See the slide "Cost composition for a typical seawater RO (reverse osmosis) plant"
Fixed charges (primarily capital cost): 31%
Energy: 26%
Maintenance and parts: 14%
Membrane replacement: 13%
Supervision and labor: 9%
Chemicals: 7%
Really cheap solar electricity could reduce the second largest expense (energy costs), but right now that's just an improvement for daylight hours. Battery-stored solar electricity is getting cheaper but it's not cheap enough to actually reduce nighttime desalination costs yet. And if you run the plant only during the day, you get less value out of the very largest expense (capital cost).
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#69I'm of course a supporter of solar, and I don't want to be "that guy", but is there a strategy for handling solar power at night? In these areas that are mostly solar, how do they store the energy, or do they resort to natural gas or coal or something?
Re: Solar Just Hit a Record Low Price in the U.S
#70I'm of course a supporter of solar, and I don't want to be "that guy", but is there a strategy for handling solar power at night? In these areas that are mostly solar, how do they store the energy, or do they resort to natural gas or coal or something?
Molten salt batteries?