Heh the image used by the article looks AI generated,
I know lol I had the same thought, I’m pretty sure it is.
Driving homeowners to solar and batteries.
Forced by fascism to use green tech. This must hurt MAGA.
Even before the price increases coming from these huge power guzzlers being built solar and batteries has paid off. Its not uncommon to see something like 5 cent a KWh or payoff in about 7 to 10 years depending on which way you want to look at it. Solar is so good for this, it scales from house level all the way up to big grid projects in the MWs.
We need to pass laws to force data centers off the electrical grid. Make them use solar and batteries.
Data centres not being able to get connections to the grid is making them get gas generators, e.g. this. We need to be taxing that more, not arbitratily limiting electricity usage and forcing businesses into using fossil fuels.
Not incorrect but we’re heading towards a future where the grid might be a backup option. Which benefits us all.
We’ve basically had this scenario unfold in the Netherlands during the last ~15 years. It lead to energy companies charging customers for sending their excess electricity to the grid for some reason.
Wow! That’s like, the opposite of how you ensure a grid is robust.
I’m with you in spirit, but I’ve been wanting to go PV+battery for far longer than the AI plague has been a thing. I’d like to be able to afford both of those. Otherwise, we’d be adding them to the list of unobtaniums along with SSD, memory, and GPUs.
I rather suspect that there will be a massive increase in domestic terrorism because of situations precisely like this over the next few years.
I don’t condone violence, I’m just stating that this is a logical byproduct of driving the general populace into a desperate situation where they have nothing to lose.
Wait why would someone do a terrorism when they could just buy cheap solar panels
You’ve not seen true desperation before. I’m not saying that buying solar panels are wrong, I’m saying that people who are worried about dying of heat stroke or freezing to death (climate dependent of course) because the power is out may not act rationally.
A burning data centre will keep you warm for a while
If someone can’t afford their electric bill how are they going to afford solar panels?
Because it doesn’t cost as much?
Solar panels are so cheap that they are cheaper than your electric bill… That is the entire point of getting them.
Solar panels are cheaper in the long run after up front costs. People who can’t afford their monthly electric bill don’t have the capital for the up front costs.
But if I could afford to install a system, yes it would be cheaper after X amount of years.
This is literally what loans are for. Some installers here offer interest free loans too.
Do you think that people living paycheck to paycheck have good enough credit for a loan?
Been way below the poverty line before, living off £8k a year back in 2016. Other than buying a house I have never borrowed money so I would expect my credit was fine, tbh never had any idea what it is or a reason to care.
Loans come with interest payments which makes the cost increase. If someone can’t afford solar panels without a loan then they can’t afford them with the additional interest payments.
My utility power isn’t on the chopping block (yet?) but skyrocketing rates have finally pushed me to install a real PV system.
Currently sitting on 2.4 KW of PV and 32 KWh of battery storage. Still in the process of installing as the specific mounts I need have been out of stock, but should have those hopefully by June and can finally begin the install in earnest. Once I have the mounts, I’m going to get a few more panels and will have about 3.5 KW of PV on the roof. Would like to do more, but that’s all the south-facing roof real estate I have to work with. Planning on a ground mount setup for another 3 KW or so but need to get the base system going first.
Out of curiosity, what are you using all of that power for? That sounds like a huge system.
The battery is huge, the panels are small.
Realising it was 2.4 to 3.5 on the roof, not as well. Plus the 3 on the ground. Still a fair size though.
With 3.5 on the roof, and 3 on the ground it is enough for an average household if there is a lot of sun. And most places it should be enough at least during the summer.
That much would pretty much cover my usage in winter, summer I would be exporting the vast majority of it.
Which I probably should do, my provider gives not awful export rates. So might be worth just going pure solar for now and look at batteries later if export rates fall. IIRC it is like 60% or so what you would pay to buy energy you get for selling it. So if my panels make more than I use and I can shift a good amount of usage to daytime, free energy for a few decades after it’s paid for the install.
Damn, an inspiration to us all.
Sounds liberating! You did it the installs yourself or through contractors? How many years do you reckon it takes for that scale of solar to pay for itself?
You did it the installs yourself or through contractors?
Fully DIY unless I reach a point where I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I haven’t started moving circuits from the main panel yet, but I’m confident I can do that and meet code. I may call in an electrician when it comes time to convert the old main panel into just a main breaker and wire its output to the PV inverters, but that’s mostly just to make sure that part is safe and up to code.
How many years do you reckon it takes for that scale of solar to pay for itself
Not fully sure. I’ve got about $7,000 invested so far just in components and materials plus probably another $1,000 or so on the horizon for another 4 panels, wiring, and other accessories. The two 16 KWh batteries are the largest expense since grid-tie isn’t an option for me. Electric rate is currently $0.26/KWh and rising, so this is mostly a way to insulate myself from further rate increases as well as provide backup power (I re-allocated the money I was saving for a whole house generator to the batteries for this).
Very, very rough math estimates at current rates, break even is just under 9.5 years. That’s $9,000 cost divided by $0.26/KWh divided by 10 KWh per day (5 hours @ 2 KW) divided by 365 days in a year. That break even time could be reduced by adding more panels (already planning to) and/or electric rates rising more (they sure aren’t going down anytime soon/ever).
