News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by 1970-01-01 on Monday April 26, 2021 @04:32PM (#26947696)
Why is solar deployment measured in MW and not # of installs? It doesn't seem like the best metric for measuring growth.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by jcims on Monday April 26, 2021 @04:44PM (#26947858)
There are two solar installs going in my county just north of me. One is 5000 acres and one is 3500 acres. If I buy a 10kW system for my house I could increase the number of systems by 50%!
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by xkjkls on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @12:45AM (#26952097)
Sure, but Tesla Solar generally advertises to smaller customers. If they get one big deal, its addition might overwhelm the sustainable growth in their business. They've definitely had multiple situations like that before with their energy storage business.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by 1970-01-01 on Monday April 26, 2021 @05:16PM (#26948254)
Are they Tesla?
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by jccooper on Monday April 26, 2021 @04:41PM (#26947827)
Presumably because price is basically per kW, and installations can vary significantly in size?
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by 1970-01-01 on Monday April 26, 2021 @05:14PM (#26948233)
They only offer 4 sizes. They could break it down by # of installs per size:

https://www.tesla.com/support/energy/solar-panels/going-sola...

Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by missurunha on Monday April 26, 2021 @08:11PM (#26950004)
It makes no sense to break down the value of installed capacity that everyone will understand into four different meaningless values.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by snoshy on Monday April 26, 2021 @10:45PM (#26951354)
Not to mention that order mix is almost always guaranteed to be a highly prized secret that companies rarely give out. You don't see Apple breaking down iPhone shipments by their variants in detail.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by jgalt212 on Monday April 26, 2021 @08:05PM (#26949959)
more importantly, why is it in any economic to install solar cells on a home instead of at scale on a solar farm?
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by yaacov on Monday April 26, 2021 @09:16PM (#26950585)
One benefit of rooftop solar is reduced transmission losses, but that isn’t usually enough to offset the costs from small scale/custom installation work. People like having them on their own rooftops for self-reliance, to flex on their neighbors, and to feel like part of the solution to climate change.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by jgalt212 on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:09AM (#26954821)
those aren't strictly "economic" reasons.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by discordance on Monday April 26, 2021 @09:40PM (#26950797)
Economic for who?

Solar farms charge us grid retail prices everyday. Here in Australia, my payback time on home installed solar ended up to be 3.5 years. Not a bad investment.

Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by jgalt212 on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:11AM (#26954833)
for the economy as a whole. In the US, would anyone other than Prius drivers install solar panels if there were no tax credit?
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by _ph_ on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @03:55AM (#26953235)
For two basic reasons:

- the home owner owns the roof top and it is already there and unused, for a solar farm, the energy company needs to find and acquire land.

- the home owner uses most of the produced electricity at cost rate, a grid company has a lot of additional costs a home owner does not have, like operating a grid, ensuring service 24x7.

Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by jgalt212 on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:08AM (#26954814)
land is cheap. especially in the desert where there's lot of sun, and not much else.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by _ph_ on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @09:19AM (#26955430)
"Not much else", like no customers for the electricity produced? /s. Yes, there are regions for example in the US, where putting up solar cells would be very cheap. But then you have to run power lines to where your customers are. That can be 1000 kilometers or more. Doable, but that certainly affects the economy of things. And yes, I think the US should put large solar farms into its deserts. And of course, there are countries, where land is not cheap and there might not even be deserts. Here in Germany for example, basically all land is somehow used.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by feifan on Monday April 26, 2021 @08:21PM (#26950082)
Same reason you have heating units in your house/building rather than at a municipal heating plant … people want to buy self-sufficiency for their house/building, and it's easier than scoping/building large-scale projects and running wires and dealing with municipalities.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by jgalt212 on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:13AM (#26954844)
self-sufficiency has a cost, hence my "economic" question. Also, steam transmission is way less efficient than electricity transmission.
Re:Tesla Q1 2021 Results by feifan on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @11:35AM (#26957367)
It does appear people are willing to pay those costs :)

Also, electricity transmission appears to be much more expensive than generation. On my PG&E bills in California, delivery costs 2.5x as much per kWh as generation for 100% renewable power.