‘If 1.5m Germans have them there must be something in it’: how balcony solar is taking off
-
Grids work on economies of scale. The bigger the better. Ask anyone who lives on an isolated island for their power bill. That's why it was such a big deal when the Baltics switched from the Russian grid to the EU one.
Bigger grid = more intertia&redundancy = less likelihood of failure, more options, lower costs.
Electricity isn't like chicken eggs. Transporting it is for all intents and purposes free. The network is expensive, but whether your house is pulling 1 A or 5 A is a non-difference to your utility. So to think local generation is "better" is a complete fallacy. Unless your house is fully disconnected from the network (not "net zero", disconnected) then it's not helping to generate power locally. Like someone else said, it's actually way more expensive per kWh than grid-scale solar.
Now this would all be a "you" problem, except the big problem with microgeneration is that current tech is "dumb". It's either pushing power on the network, or sometimes tripping if the voltage goes above 250V or so. Which actually happens in rich neighborhoods on very sunny days where everyone is pushing power.
What this means for the operators is that on very sunny days, they cannot do anything but account for the extra residential solar power. Which might mean they have to very quickly spin up or down alternative power generators which were not meant for this. Or they might be dealing with complex issues with current flowing the other way than designed and large voltage fluctuations on specific parts of the network that don't have the necessary infrastructure to "dump" that extra solar somewhere else.The end result is that, counter-intuitively, microgeneration is one of the many failures of the neoliberal electricity market. It's more expensive and more disruptive for society than if those solar cells had been put to use in grid-scale solar production. They only end up where they are through political mismanagement and misaligned incentives (e.g. net metering which does not account for negative externalities).
-
I'm sure this is a good thing, but considering the vast majority of Germans haven't figured out screens on windows I'm not sure the appeal to authority in the title has the desired effect.
-
I wasn't being sarcastic. I appreciate that my local energy provider is green and stable
-
-
The actual problem are electricity prices rising higher and that shortens to time to reach the equilibrium between the investetment
-
Maybe he/she refers to the operating system from Microsoft?
-
By putting the solar panel at a 90 degree angle though it is much less efficient than e.g. a 45 degree angle.
-
We even tried to make trains trans once
-
-
Rooftop solar has a huge upfront cost and requires the building owner/operator do it. It’s out of the control of individuals and out of their price range.
Balcony solar is completely under your control, within most people’s budget, and you simply plug it in
-
Maybe they’re also nudists, or otherwise like their privacy
-
-
-
-
But what screens does he/she mean? Lock screen? Desktop? screensaver??
Very weird. -
First the trans people come for my energy, then they come for my trains? When will the madness end? Won’t someone think of the children!
-
Depends, is an imaginary angle comparable to a 45 degree angle?
-
What screens are you talking about?
-
Be careful there - you're pushing electricity in your grid and there is a reason why only one system is permitted in Germany. Don't hook up two or three without talking with an expert.
-
You also have the best shutters ever.
