adiggs
Well-Known Member
Grid-independent... using the grid as a backup.
One of the reasons Tesla is merging with Solar City is to take advantage of Tesla batteries. This will allow Solar City to fight some of the shenanigans utilities like APS are attempting to protect their market share.
The Solar City business model still operates mostly on the lease model. They pay for the system and you lower your electric bill on day 1... that's for the 99%.... not the 1%. Adding storage to the mix makes solar PV economically viable in areas that the utility is pushing back against solar.
Batteries are projected to be <$100/kWh and Solar modules <$0.30/w by 2020.... these estimates have a long history of being overly conservative... Where do you think nuclear will be? At what cost point will you agree that nuclear simply can't compete?
By "grid-independent... using the grid as backup", you mean import only from the grid, correct, with no export (or at least, no plan for financial gain from export once the battery backup is fully charged). Correct?
I ask because somewhere along the line, it started sounding like off-grid, and I think everybody is in complete agreement that there's a big leap from net zero and off-grid.
This in-between state I see here - "grid-independent using the grid as backup" - sounds like a very sensible way point for many people to aim for.
My situation will be similar to @David_Cary's above, and for most I suspect. I can get through the summer easily, and a lot of the spring and fall. Especially as solar installation falls in price, I've got a whole 'nother side of the house that doesn't yet have panels! So I can overbuild there and add 10's of kwh of panels, and I could be exporting many days of the year should I want. The problem with off-grid of course is that in the winter, the 70 kwh summer day can go below 1 kwh, and routinely under 5 kwh. My current lifestyle and home doesn't function on 5 kwh in a day
BUT - grid independent with imports as needed. Yeah, that's easy. That gets me through the 2 worst months in the winter, and the bill is close to 0 the rest of the year.
And if it really does look to the electric company like I'm a seasonal user of small amounts of electricity, with a correspondingly small electric bill, then this option creates consumer choice options in utility districts where the electric company is being particularly .. contrary.