Re:The Price of Solar Is Declining to Unprecedented Lows
by deftnerd on Sunday August 28, 2016 @09:49AM
(#12376478)
Why do you place solar with peak-load technologies like gas? The point of peak load plants, and why they charge a premium, is that they can ramp up output when there is sudden demand. Solar does not have that ability, just like coal and wind.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:The Price of Solar Is Declining to Unprecedented Lows
by jdeibele on Sunday August 28, 2016 @09:57AM
(#12376514)
Guessing because the peak-load for electricity tends to coincide with very hot days. So lots of demand for air conditioning but the solar panels are also generating maximum capacity.
Re:The Price of Solar Is Declining to Unprecedented Lows
by Tharkun on Monday August 29, 2016 @02:16AM
(#12380330)
Not entirely true. PV panels perform better on cold sunny days than on hot sunny days. Semiconductors and heat are still no match made in heaven...
Re:The Price of Solar Is Declining to Unprecedented Lows
by kuschku on Sunday August 28, 2016 @10:21AM
(#12376621)
The peak demand for electricity is around the afternoon of the day, and it gets higher the hotter the day is.
Which is exactly where solar is available – it can’t deal with 100% of the peak load, but it can take about three quarters of the market for peak load techniques.
Re:The Price of Solar Is Declining to Unprecedented Lows
by jseliger on Sunday August 28, 2016 @11:15AM
(#12376824)
That's true for now, but it'll be interesting to see what happens as battery prices come down. There's also an interesting synergy between used car batteries and home storage: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/09/3775606/used-sec... or http://fortune.com/2016/06/22/bmw-energy-storage/.