Re:Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic toxicity and waste ...
by jacquesm on Tuesday October 17, 2023 @07:04AM
(#37913152)
Yes, consumer flexibility will be a huge part of the solution. You can already see this with power intensive industries operating when power is cheap (or even on surplus power) and reducing or even stopping their output when power is expensive. Obviously not all industries have this option, sometimes energy is only a small fraction of their expenses. But it is good to see at least this part of the market aspect of energy production and consumption operating as it should. Meanwhile I'm sitting pretty with 7.7 MWh net returned to the grid on my private installation.
Re:Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic toxicity and waste ...
by hef19898 on Tuesday October 17, 2023 @07:22AM
(#37913289)
Lucky you, we lookes at PV when we built our house. But back then, well, we just didn't have the necessary 15k left for an installation. As soon as we get an EV, for now the required size for four people is just to expensive, there will be PV installed alongside a wall box. Our roof is large enough, albeit propably tricky (almost flat, but not completely, covered by bitumen). But we'll see!
Re:Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic toxicity and waste ...
by jacquesm on Tuesday October 17, 2023 @07:25AM
(#37913311)
Flat roof is very doable, I have 34 out of 50 panels here on less than 10 degree slope on a flat roof. What's nice about it is that even though it isn't optimal when the sun is out it works very well when the sky is overcast, sometimes even better than the panels that are oriented towards the sun.
Re:Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic toxicity and waste ...
by hef19898 on Tuesday October 17, 2023 @07:30AM
(#37913364)
Good news! And since our house is pretty much running north-south, with an unobstructed view of the sun until around, say, mid-afternoon, the aide of our roof facing east should be quite suitable (to get more sun on it, we'd have to remove all the trees, moat of which are 30+ years old, something we don't want to do). One day, there will panels on that roof!
Grid stabilization is priced in, usually using specific contracts with producers and large consumers (read steel, chemical, paper industrial sites and other with huge electricity needs). In that regard, the European markets are working fine and as intended.
Long term, we have to solve the issue of electricity storage. Short term, we are totally fine with renewables producing <60% of our electricity, and on some days even more. Base load became much less of a problem, most hige consumers in the industrial sectors found ways to be much more flexible in their demand, driven in no small degree by being to make extra money on the spot markets (and we talk 10s of millions here).