Yes It is. Even including batteries:
https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/lcoe-and-valu...
"Solar PV with storage = solar PV installation paired with four-hour duration battery storage, scaled to 20% of the output capacity of the solar PV."
Sometime the sun goes away for more than 4hrs.
That may be OK for closed-ended systems (turn off the science at night and during storms), but not for open-ended systems with diverse user demand.
4hour batteries are competitive with gas peakers to match high demand during and after sunny times, but solar needs gas peakers or similar to over for non-sunny times.
Re:Discovery Loop
by bullfightonmars on Thursday August 06, 2026 @04:37PM
(#49202173)
> Sometime the sun goes away for more than 4hrs.
everywhere? all at once? The grid is distributed, this is a solved problem. Most of what is needed now is to build the systems, storage, and transmission lines.
Re:Discovery Loop
by UncleOxidant on Wednesday August 05, 2026 @03:59PM
(#49188160)
That's going to drop a lot as sodium-ion batteries go into large-scale production.
Re:Discovery Loop
by conorcleary on Wednesday August 05, 2026 @07:33PM
(#49190503)
Yep - people act as if innovation has halted in the face of ridicule.
Not if you include the cost of needed storage.