Re:Solar PV rapidly becoming the cheapest option to generate...
by khafra on Tuesday October 25, 2011 @11:13AM
(#3154318)
> peak usage in most countries is when it's dark
Citation needed.
http://www.srpnet.com/prices/home/tou.aspx
Looks to me like most of the peak hours are when the sun's out; especially in the areas where PV panels work best.
Re:Solar PV rapidly becoming the cheapest option to generate...
by speleding on Wednesday October 26, 2011 @05:18AM
(#3157733)
Even in areas where the peak coincides with a peak in sunlight that helps very little since the reliability of sunshine is much lower than the required reliability for power, so you still cannot close power plants and need to keep the fixed costs. You can optimize your systems for a lower average output in those areas, especially in areas with lots of air conditioning where the peak load is expected to drop with lower sunshine, but we are talking percentage points, nothing drastic. Just look at the cost structure of an energy company, there is lots of staff driving around in vans, etc, the cost of fuel is only a small part.
That's not how it works unfortunately. Most of the cost of a utility are fixed. If more people are using PV then the fixed cost get divided over a smaller number of kWh and the cost of the remaining non-PV kWh goes up. Since peak usage in most countries is when it's dark the utility will not be able to reduce its fixed cost until someone finds a way to store energy in an economical way. The utility will simply have to stop paying for electricity delivered back to the grid because they will no longer be able to afford it (the only reason they do that now is politically motivated).