Re:Solar is dirt-cheap and about to get even more powerful
by epistasis on Sunday July 11, 2021 @03:10PM
(#27803762)
Commercial rooftop, residential rooftop, doesn't matter much at the geographic scale of grids. Certainly doesn't hurt to put it on commercial roofs though! And since those are often flat, it's probably a lot safer. Check out the map of electrical infrastructure in California:
You'll see that on the scale of substations, industry is right next to residential, and virtually indistinguishable.
Consider 500MW placed on the roofs of homes in San Jose, versus 500MW in a somewhat close green field build. The distant green field build is going to send every single kWh over transmission lines. Where as close to 0 kWh of the residential solar would hit transmission, meaning that all transmission requirements are lessened, as are distribution requirements.
https://cecgis-caenergy.opendata.arcgis.com/apps/california-...
You'll see that on the scale of substations, industry is right next to residential, and virtually indistinguishable.
Consider 500MW placed on the roofs of homes in San Jose, versus 500MW in a somewhat close green field build. The distant green field build is going to send every single kWh over transmission lines. Where as close to 0 kWh of the residential solar would hit transmission, meaning that all transmission requirements are lessened, as are distribution requirements.