Solar Power

[andrewducker]

Should reach grid parity in Italy next year, most of Europe by 2020 and the UK by 2030.

That's assuming trends continue as they currently are.  Which is something that never happens.

From

Comments

[balthial.livejournal.com]

Power usage is high during the day, really high in the evening, and almost zero at night. So for grid connected solar systems storing power is absolutely not a problem in an advanced country. If you have the entire country running on solar or you have an off grid system or whatever then you have an issue.

I am not sure I trust their numbers. You really have to think about things like long term electricity cost projections (very hard to predict, but probably prices are going up) and financing costs. Financing costs for Solar is almost nothing in Germany but I bet it is expensive in Italy.

[drplokta]

Yes, which is why I say that selling it is an alternative to storing it. But to make that economic, photovoltaic has to achieve wholesale parity, not grid parity, which is a good deal harder.

[balthial.livejournal.com]

1. Yes, if you believe that the difference between whole sale and retail energy prices reflects the cost of moving the power. This is a highly regulated industry, and in my experience in the power industry, I have found that there are a lot of political influences on the process. In my mind a little regulation to prop up the price for people selling solar power to the grid is in order. Anyway, the true cost of moving power from my roof to my neighbor's house is really not as high as moving it from a big coal plant 200 km away.

2. Most commercial and industrial installations will easily be able to absorb all the power they generate from something like a roof top installation.