Earlier quoted context omitted.
Australia manages to install rooftop solar at well under half the cost the USA does (most of that is soft costs) and integrate large amounts of it into the grid. As of lunchtime today, nearly 50% of all electrical generation on the national grid was rooftop solar (and another ~10% was utility-scale solar). Rooftop solar works just fine if utilities don’t actively try and obstruct its use.
> As of lunchtime today, nearly 50% of all electrical generation on the national grid was rooftop solar Wow, this is incredible. Can you share your source? I would like to learn more!
Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
161–170 of 216 posts
Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#162Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#163This is fine and all, but each individual having a solar panel introduces a lot of issues. Your energy bill is about 1/4 or 1/3rd distribution. As you take less power from the grid because of the solar on your roof, that proportion grows larger and larger. At the same time, the power company makes less money off of you, because you are using less power. Therefore, they have less money to invest in distribution, which…
Valid points. Is there a known solution to this, even if it's too expensive today? Would it make sense for local electricity companies to go full solar with large battery backups? Or are batteries too expensive, or don't last long enough, for this to be feasible? What about a wind+solar combination? Both of them are unlikely to go offline at the same time. I see articles that the cost of wind and solar keep going dow…
The real solution is the dynamization of electricity prices. This needs some adjusting from your average consumer but not a lot if done right. In Germany there are startups like 1.5C, Enpal etc which will sell you a heat pump, solar, ev charger pack with some "smarts", switch you over to a dynamic pricing electricity contract and then claim to optimize the overall cost (i have no direct experience of my own). If you are willing to take a small amount of temperature swing your house is a big thermal battery (even more so if you have a heat pump to water with a big, well insulated reservoir), your ev is a battery with vehicle to grid. With this you can shift your main loads a good amount. Washing machines and dryer as well as cooking/baking might be slightly more problematic/harder to shift, though the car battery should be more than enough for average evening cooking and i have seen washing machines/dryers which can take an external signal as to run when the price is low/there is excess electricity...
Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#164This is a very impressive refinement of their existing tool, but is this type of advanced calculation of roof-pitch (etc.) still relevant? Haven't we more or less concluded that a million piecemeal rooftop installations of solar are about the worst way to do it? More complicated and expensive to permit and install, less efficient operation, difficult to repair, difficult to insure, difficult to upgrade, inefficient t…
Yes it's relevant and no we didn't all agree it was a bad idea.
It generates power at roughly the cost of nuclear. It's distributed and resilient. It works around sluggish government and/or corporate monopolies. It reduces transmission requirements. It enables and encourages electrification and time-shifting of load. Adding it at build time can be cheaper than tiling.
It’s generally a good thing and we'll see even more if it as the tech progresses and gets cheaper.
Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#165I am sceptical about putting PV on roofs, seems a lot of hassle and waymore expensive then using just flatground: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadla_Solar_Park
Any additional money spent on it, could have helped to install more PV or batteries.
Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Joules is the solution to both the problems (the second is that Wh for energy is as silly as speed hours for distance)
Watt-hours is a perfectly pragmatic unit. Measure instantaneous power and multiply by a common human unit of time. It's easy to compare.
Part of me is tempted to suggest kilograms as a unit of energy.
428.6 kg relativistic mass-energy equivalent: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=10.7PWh%2F%28c%5E2%29
But then, I am a silly person.
Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#167This is a very impressive refinement of their existing tool, but is this type of advanced calculation of roof-pitch (etc.) still relevant? Haven't we more or less concluded that a million piecemeal rooftop installations of solar are about the worst way to do it? More complicated and expensive to permit and install, less efficient operation, difficult to repair, difficult to insure, difficult to upgrade, inefficient t…
Depends on your cost of electricity. In most places, a solar setup pays for itself long before the warranty runs out max 5-10 years typically (depending on a lot of factors). Even in the US which has a lot of extra cost related to people making things needlessly complicated and costly, lots of people are installing solar and earning their money back.
I can actually get balcony solar here in Germany for about 240 euros. Here's how that works:
- I buy a kit on Amazon. I found several nice ones. This one is rated for 850w and includes cables, inverters and other bits and bobs needed.
- I zip tie the panels to my balcony
- And I plug in the equipment and connect it to a wall socket
The idea is that this would offload some of the power used by e.g. my fridge. Not the same as a rooftop setup obviously and in my case quite pointless since I don't have a lot of sun on my balcony.
But I might actually qualify for a rebate if I do this and get all or most my money back. The government is sponsoring this and landlords can't stop you from doing this. Nor do you need their permission, a permit, or special insurance.
The point is that this stuff is cheap, easy, and pretty much plug and play. Roofs aren't a whole lot more complicated than this from a technical point of view. You need more panels and more expensive equipment and you probably need some professional electricians and installers to do the work.
The rest is just nonsense that relates more to your local government and legislation than anything being inherently expensive or difficult. I'd suggest reminding your local politicians of their responsibilities during the next elections and maybe voting for the ones that aren't being jerks on this front.
Otherwise, solar panels are pretty reliable and generally covered by long warranties. Repairing them is mostly not a thing, somebody would come and simply replace them. I doubt that a lot of solar panel companies and installers are suffering a lot under the enormous burden of this happening all the time for the simple reason that it this isn't a thing.
Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#168I am sceptical about putting PV on roofs, seems a lot of hassle and waymore expensive then using just flatground: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadla_Solar_Park Any additional money spent on it, could have helped to install more PV or batteries.
Every PV system on a roof means producing and consuming energy directly.
In Germany we already have large distance energy transfer problems.
And PV is so cheap now + battery, you get independence / real freedom out of the box.
If you have valuable space on the ground and want to remove the utilization of it, sure but I prefer it on the roof were it doesn't do that.
But yes next to autobahns or other smart locations yes put it on the ground.
But when I invest in myself I will not sponsor pv somewhere else
Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
I didn't calculate anything I just put in an address and a monthly electricity bill. https://sunroof.withgoogle.com/
sunroof was a 2015 project. if they haven't adjusted their cost estimates since they launched it, it could be wildly overestimating things.
Same for panel efficiency
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar-cell_efficiency#/media...
Re: Satellite powered estimation of global solar potential
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
> incredible conversation starter for homeowners who might not have considered taking on a home solar project otherwise Once you do the math in a Northern country (sans subsidies) it's not as compelling as you might think.
By "Northen" I assume you mean Europe, and (most of) USA? I live near the 33rd parallel South. Since installing solar my annual grid requirements are around 30% of before solar [1] ‐ even as my actual consumption has risen [2]. As far as "Northern" goes countries in my latitude north (or better) include India, Mexica, all of Africa, most of China, and so on. So for most people living in the north it is compelling [4]…
Northern places (thinking UK here) don't use AC in summer, the economics are different.