EU had quite a bit of energy independence with its nuclear fleet at one point.
Sure, because there are quite a lot of natural Uranium sources on EU soil. Care to name them?
‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
331–340 of 365 posts
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#332Earlier quoted context omitted.
Countries other than China make panels too. India is dealing with an oversupply from domestic production right now: https://solarmagazine.com/2025/08/india-solar-supply-chain-f...
There is so much darn what-about coping going here. I can’t help people with their emotional rationalization. Fact of the matter is still getting your source of energy from India, when you are not India, is still not energy independence either, regardless of whether or not you do or do not like India more or less than China. The craziest part about all of this is that Europe is quite literally not independent in any…
> Fact of the matter is still getting your source of energy from India
Solar panels aren't fuel. They aren't the source of energy. They're used to collect energy. The source is the sun.
It's a very simple idea that people who are used to fossil fuels don't understand. Or don't want to understand.
Solar panels aren't oil. They're oil rigs. Except they last longer and need less maintenance. And the well will, practically speaking, never, ever run out.
If you burn natural gas you're independent for as long your stockpiles last. It will run out. Probably within a month or two.
If you can use solar and batteries for everything you're energy independent for at least 25 years. Then Europe can recycle them themselves and even make all-new ones. Because 25 years is more than long enough to learn how to do it.
Europe will never ever be energy independent if it has to import fuel. Gas, petroleum, and uranium are fuel.
Solar panels aren't fuel. Repeat that to yourself over and over and maybe you'll understand it. The fact that you call it "emotional rationalization" tells me you don't really understand, or don't care to understand.
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#333[flagged]
Clearly uneducated take. The photos hitting my solar panel don’t travel through the straight of Hormuz.
You may want to check you spelling or explain what photos hitting your solar panels has to do with anything before you star throwing stones in your glass house of ignorance
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#334Earlier quoted context omitted.
Net metering only makes sense as a way to incentivize solar installations. Looking at the economics, it's not something any utility would offer willingly. It's like if the grocery store let you give them milk for a credit at full price. (Let's ignore the sanitary/health/quality issues that would come up.) You decide to buy a cow and you drink that milk. Sometimes you need more than your cow can give so you buy extra…
> It's like if the grocery store let you give them milk for a credit at full price. I know of quite a few places where through net metering you don't get full price, you get the wholesale rate for your production which is significantly less.
Not to be rude, but that's definitionally NOT net metering. Net metering is where you only get changed for your net consumption. If they're looking at your gross consumption and gross production separately, it just can't be net metering. You might still decide to sell solar to the grid for the wholesale price and get a reduction in your bill, but it's not net metering.
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#335Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have a look here: https://shop-sicatron.de/products/sicatron-910w-balkonkraftw... You still need attachment material for your balcony. Keep in mind that this system will input all it's power into your power grid. If you don't use the power it will go directly into the public grid. Still, really good cost saving measure.
Do you own one of these? If yes, are you happy with the quality?
No I don't own them.
Some people here: https://www.mydealz.de/share-deal-from-app/2753917 mention as a downside that you have to connect to the manufacturer cloud to get the live production data from the interverter.
Otherwise it is truly "plug everything together and it works".
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#336Earlier quoted context omitted.
people put few kW worth of micro-inverters and it is fine so I imagine that is figured out problem... question is whether the ones allowed for sale implement it well and are tested for it
my understanding is that micro-inverters send an "up and running" signal encoded over the DC wiring to the main inverter, and that this is used to detect micro-inverter failure. that is an entirely different problem than the one in the GP comment, i think.
“Rapid shutdown devices” do this. Microinverters have the same “grid is down, turn off” logic as a main inverter
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#337Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sadly a lot of people look at our economic system through an ideological lens - how it allocates resources is, to them, driven by political, cultural and social motivations. The fact that by far its most important purpose is resource allocation is often completely ignored. Rising petrol prices here in Australia draw criticism against fossil fuel wholesalers - as if they are doing this solely to screw over Australians…
> The fact that these high prices are caused by an actual lack of resources and that the higher prices are driving a reallocation of resources to those who need them most (ie. most willing to pay for them) is not on the radar for many Careful using words like "need". The resources are allocated to the economically most efficient sectors. Since if you are economically efficient, your profits are higher and can afford…
That's a fair point.
In most cases these are congruent ideas, though. If I have no choice but to drive, but someone can drive or take public transport or work from home, high fuel prices incentivise them to not use it, saving some for myself.
I'm sure there are plenty of people throughout an economy who just don't care, but on average it has substantial impacts, and it's common now for people to totally dismiss that.
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#338Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sadly a lot of people look at our economic system through an ideological lens - how it allocates resources is, to them, driven by political, cultural and social motivations. The fact that by far its most important purpose is resource allocation is often completely ignored. Rising petrol prices here in Australia draw criticism against fossil fuel wholesalers - as if they are doing this solely to screw over Australians…
Any human system is inherently ideological. "It’s not only our reality which enslaves us. The tragedy of our predicament when we are within ideology is that when we think that we escape it into our dreams, at that point we are within ideology." - Slavoj Zizek > The fact that these high prices are caused by an actual lack of resources and that the higher prices are driving a reallocation of resources to those who need…
The other replying commenter made a good point that "need" is perhaps not the best description, but I'll stand by it as reasonably close to what I mean.
Yes, there are plenty of people with high incomes who continue commanding resources they may not strictly "need", but across the economy as a whole the effects of these prices is still to allocate resources in an efficient way. The point is this avoids an acute shortage and rationing, which is the alternative to transmitting this information via prices and almost certainly far less economically productive.
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#339Earlier quoted context omitted.
My understanding is that is why they are limiting to 800w (~4A) at least in the UK's BS 7671 Amendment, which they consider well within the designed safety margins.
Ah yes, the good old "let's eat into the safety margins". This is why our motorways no longer have hard shoulders. OK, so cars break down less now. What justification is there for eating into electrical margins? The wiring in people's houses isn't getting any younger. And we still use the ridiculous ring system even in new builds in 2026.
Estimates suggest they could save U.S. consumers billions of dollars a year in electricity costs, while potentially offsetting thousands of megawatts of demand (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09601...)
Plus it increases equity because this primarily opens up solar for those in rented accommodation and apartments/flats who otherwise couldn't access it. Personally that feels well worth pursuing if it's deemed safe.
Re: ‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms
#340Earlier quoted context omitted.
Syncing them with electricity is easy. The hard part is preventing export to the grid which requires either a compatible smart meter that can communicate with your panels or a transformer clamp installed by an electrician. My understanding is some meters measure both directions equally so if you do end up exporting power you can conceivably increase your utility bill.
Why would you want to prevent export?
Plug in solar must be zero export to bypass utility approval process.