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Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels

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Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels

#3

Post by eliaspro »

lm28469 wrote: post #2

I'm in Germany and keep seeing these, I always wonder what a 400w poorly oriented panel getting like 3 hours of sun a day is good for. If they weren't basically free thanks to tax reduction and other tricks I assume no one would get them

The tax-credit (there are no other "tricks") just shortens the pay-off time of 3-5 years by 19%, that's all!

Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels

#5

Post by ViewTrick1002 »

lm28469 wrote: post #2

I'm in Germany and keep seeing these, I always wonder what a 400w poorly oriented panel getting like 3 hours of sun a day is good for. If they weren't basically free thanks to tax reduction and other tricks I assume no one would get them

Ensuring no one buys expensive thermal power when the grid is flooded with zero marginal costs renewables and near zero marginal cost storage.

Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels

#6

Post by lucb1e »

ViewTrick1002 wrote: post #5
lm28469 wrote: post #2

I'm in Germany and keep seeing these, I always wonder what a 400w poorly oriented panel getting like 3 hours of sun a day is good for. If they weren't basically free thanks to tax reduction and other tricks I assume no one would get them

Ensuring no one buys expensive thermal power when the grid is flooded with zero marginal costs renewables and near zero marginal cost storage.

Rephrasing that to be more understandable because I didn't get this as it was: "Making sure no one buys expensive electricity from coal or gas plants when the grid is full of cheap renewable energy and almost-free stored energy."

I'm frankly still not sure what you're trying to say even if I understand the sentence now, e.g.: what free storage?! Isn't germany's projected storage capacity by 2050 somewhere between negligible and tiny?

Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels

#7

Post by ViewTrick1002 »

lucb1e wrote: post #6
ViewTrick1002 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ensuring no one buys expensive thermal power when the grid is flooded with zero marginal costs renewables and near zero marginal cost storage.

Rephrasing that to be more understandable because I didn't get this as it was: "Making sure no one buys expensive electricity from coal or gas plants when the grid is full of cheap renewable energy and almost-free stored energy." I'm frankly still not sure what you're trying to say even if I understand the sentence now, e.g.: what free storage?! Isn't germany's projected storage capacity by 2050 somewhere between neg…

Storage isn’t free.

But when you have it the marginal cost of an extra cycle is very low.

Germany’s battery storage-related grid connection requests swell beyond 500 GW

https://www.ess-news.com/2025/09/01/germanys-battery-storage...

Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels

#8

Post by lucb1e »

ViewTrick1002 wrote: post #7
lucb1e wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rephrasing that to be more understandable because I didn't get this as it was: "Making sure no one buys expensive electricity from coal or gas plants when the grid is full of cheap renewable energy and almost-free stored energy." I'm frankly still not sure what you're trying to say even if I understand the sentence now, e.g.: what free storage?! Isn't germany's projected storage capacity by 2050 somewhere between neg…

Storage isn’t free. But when you have it the marginal cost of an extra cycle is very low. Germany’s battery storage-related grid connection requests swell beyond 500 GW https://www.ess-news.com/2025/09/01/germanys-battery-storage...

That's like saying the cost of taking an additional bite from your food is very low once you have already bought it, if I'm understanding the continued use of marginal correctly in context?
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