Plenty of markets are dominated by the less-durable product offered at a lower up-front cost.
This is Norway and it's been raining all summer. So you'd think hydro would make all of this moot. Doesn't seem it. Because the rates were high even after all the rain.
I have high hopes for solar and batteries, but for the grid. I don't like the idea of a grid upgrade coming indirectly via thousands of bespoke homeowner increase my property value projects.
Do Norwegian hydro prices vary with rainfall?
I live in Western Wyoming. We feed off cheap Pacific Northwestern hydro. It's a fixed price. (I pay a bit more for wind + hydro, but it's still fixed.)
A good problem to have but still a problem. Who would have thought weather forecasting would be critical to grid maintenance.
They already have to keep an eye on the weather. For example, to predict demand spikes during heatwaves or cold snaps.
Also severe weather predictions are crucial to have the staff ready to respond to grid outages due to weather.
With just coal/gas/hydro, this can be mitigated much easily, but still needs to be handled with care. If not, then the lack of power generation could cause brownouts for hours or days as backup power generation takes time to spin up.
TVA experienced an issue like this in 2023, where it was inadequately ready for a winter storm: https://www.publicpower.org/periodical/article/report-examin...
Since we build for "1-in-a-100", it's expected we'll have these failures, as a 1% chance every year is a pretty high chance that will keep increasing as these power companies rely more on non-failsafe power generation strategies. Texas is the extreme example, where over-reliance on those systems caused too much damage.
The electrician's trade groups and that whole supply chain are also scared shitless of a future where you can't lord a meter connection over people.
To an only slightly lesser degree building inspectors and Karens of all colors are also not fans for similar reasons. In exurban and rural areas (i.e. below a certain density depending on climate) the idea that some guy could just move into an old house or slap up a new building, throw up a bunch of panels on a stand, throw a bunch of batteries in a shed and live there without cutting checks to all sorts of parties and jumping through all sorts of compliance hoops and that you'd have to go after them after the fact is a big threat to these people's ability to micromanage how other people live.
Solar programs/subsidies there is how a lot of local (and later Chinese) industry was bootstrapped despite being far from competitive with fossil energy back then.
Those initiatives might have accelerated the whole solar power industry by half a decade or more. We are now reaping even (indirect) benefit from industrializing countries (Pakistan, India, etc) that go straight to solar instead of conventional plants.
People often insist that western climate initiatives are "meaningless", "wasteful" and "ineffective", but examples like this prove that global effects are absolutely realistic.
If those two countries had fully invested into nuclear power back then, we might be significantly worse off right now as far as global CO2 emissions are concerned.
Probably not, having done contract manufacturing in China quite recently. Asking for a source isn't the same as disputing an assertion.
> top of the line chinese factories are just as good as EU/US ones, probably even more high tech
This is my guess. I like to substantiate my guesses.
However you inspired me to do some research, and I found this: https://www.cnet.com/home/energy-and-utilities/best-solar-pa....
The article lists top PV manufacturers and their efficiency ratings, production warranty, and other statistics. There are several Chinese companies on the list with 25+ year warranties. The article's top-rated manufacturer in the category of "Longest production warranty" is ZNShine Solar, a Chinese company that offers a 30 year warranty.
Uh? It's a major pain in the ass, you actually need to heat these batteries, most won't even charge below 0c, their peak performance is in the 15-25c range
An odd statement. That could be considered a "problem" for an incumbent energy provider, like say Exxon. But it would be considered a solution for an energy user who would now have more money to devote to something else in the economy.
asmodeuslucifer•1h ago