I’ll give my unsolicited opinion.
I’m across Bjorn’s work, his books and his think tank. A man with a very logical approach to the problems he tries to solve and he does great work IMO. It’s a pity he doesn’t get more traction in the grande scheme of things.
As for solar. From experience it works very well, on my house. In my location and it easily meets my energy needs. Reality is most of my neighbours must feel the same.
Just because it works so well here doesn’t mean it works as well in Alberta. Having lived in both places I’ll tell you why.
First and most importantly is the way the utility companies bill us. You’re well aware how it works in Alberta, here they charge me per kw/h and that’s it. If I use zero in a month my bill is zero. There are no transmission, rate rider or BS fees.
The cost to buy and install a system is really inexpensive.
We get a LOT of sun.
My solar powers my houses demand first then back feeds the grid and I get paid per kw/h that’s back fed. When my demand exceeds my own supply I buy off the grid. We smash the power during the day while we are making our own. Things like A/C, laundry, dishwasher etc are prioritised for when the suns up and the system on the roof keeps the bill very small. Not zero but power costs far less than a coffee per day.
I work with guys who have battery backups. Their inverters prioritise this way. The solar powers the house, then charges the batteries then back feeds the grid. When they need power it pulls from the solar, then the batteries then the grid. I have one friend with a 12.5kw Tesla powerwall and he never uses from the grid. After a night of watching TV and running lights, A/C etc. the battery is depleted about 20% (80% left). Within two hours of the sun being up in the morning the battery is at 100%. For the rest of the day his solar feeds his house or sells to the grid. He never sees a bill, his credit with the power company grows every month and when the grids power supply is disrupted he doesn’t notice. Last Christmas they had a nasty storm and the power was down for more than a week but he didn’t notice because he had his battery.
Here on a single phase meter we can back feed up to 5.5 kw/h so most of us run around 6-8 kw/h systems on our roof. If you have a 3 phase meter you can back feed 15 kw/h and one buddy’s got that so he has a 22 kw system on his roof.
A solar system on a roof is cheap. I honestly have no idea why all my neighbour’s don’t have it. Here’s one of many options. Literally the first google hit, it’s not cherry picked for price.
Now, would I do it in Alberta knowing how much sun you get, the cost and lifespan of the panels and how specifically HOW your billed for power? Nope.
I’m also not convinced it scales AT ALL. I would assume it does up to the size of a commercial building but probably not for a couple of sections of land cleared to be a solar “farm” and it’s not a viable solution for the “grid”. That doesn’t change the fact that it can be useful and more then pay for itself for some of us.
Why Wind and Solar are not winning
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