German Space Center has constructed the world’s largest artificial Sun

Re:German Space Center has constructed the world’s largest a... by maxerickson on Friday March 24, 2017 @12:33PM (#13950108)

Doesn't make sense to me. For the costs to be that significant, net metered kilowatt hours would have to be a huge chunk of their generation, and rooftop solar is smaller than utility solar, which is maybe ~10% of the market, and rooftop doesn't net meter most generation, it consumes it off the grid.

It could well be the case that solar is changing the cost mix and driving up prices, but I doubt net metering is driving that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German Space Center has constructed the world’s largest a... by JoeAltmaier on Friday March 24, 2017 @02:19PM (#13950997)

But they're related in a strange way: they raise the rates a penny, they have to pay a penny more back to solar at 'retail rates'. So its a funny feedback loop.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German Space Center has constructed the world’s largest a... by maxerickson on Friday March 24, 2017 @02:40PM (#13951160)

The numbers just don't work. California power consumption is something like 40 gigawatts, net metering is a fraction of 4 gigawatts.

So even if the net metering is somehow 100% cost (it isn't, they sell the power), it still wouldn't do anything like double rates.

[ Parent | on HN ]