beeeerock
Active Member
This is what I personally find extremely interesting. While everyone was oohing and aahing about the Powerwall, I was stuttering in excitement over the Powerpacks... THEY are the game-changer in my opinion, while the Powerwall is simply a nice whole-home UPS.The problem of course is that the business model for most utilities is based on owning generation assess and selling power from those assets. Within this business model, distributed solar is perceived as a threat to revenue. More enlightened utilities like NRG are actively installing and financing distributed solar. This is a sensible way to recognize the long term economics of transition to solar while making a relevant business out of transitioning to this future.
The politics of delaying the inevitable transition are fascinating to watch. Not just from the electrical utility companies, but more so the Oil and Gas guys. When the Saudi oil minister is quoted making comments about building a solar infrastructure, you know things are going to happen. And I suspect (hope) that it happens sooner and faster than most people expect. I find it quite incredible that so much pressure is being applied to the various pipeline projects across both Canada and the USA... billions that want to be spent, to ensure a last orgasmic squeeze of revenue from the oil fields. Imagine if that money was spent on solar/wind/tidal infrastructure instead. All of those will continue to earn revenue long after the last oil pipeline is mothballed. Short term gain is the name of the game, at any cost apparently.
Sorry, I've digressed! The reconfiguration of the grid is a problem we're only just beginning to appreciate I suspect. It will be interesting to see how that plays out, and what efficiencies are discovered along the way.