With all the talk about going 'off-grid' when batteries are cheap enough I think it's important to keep perspective of the advantages of the grid. Aside from the obvious facts that some people simply don't have enough room for a sufficient amount of solar, solar insolation change A LOT depending on weather and time of year, it's better to export excess than idle your panels when the batteries are full ect, ect....
Wind is currently the cheapest renewable source we have on a per kWh basis. While I fully expect solar to eclipse wind (no pun intended) in the next ~5 years in terms of cost... it will likely ALWAYS be cheaper to generate energy with wind than to store solar. Wind and Solar are near perfect companions. Wind generates more power in the winter, solar more in the summer. Wind is most active in the early morning hours before the sun rises... when solar is generating nothing. The disadvantage of wind is that unlike solar it's not cost effective small scale. You need 1MW+ wind turbines and you generally can't install those in your backyard... fortunately for us, we have transmission lines.
One of the core principles where I work is 'Elegant Efficiency'... basically getting the most bang for your buck. If there is demand for power... it's more efficient to export it so it can be used than store it in a battery. If there is a clean supply of energy it is better to use it than draw it from a battery. One day we will have to choose between curtailing our panels or storing their production in a battery... Until that day comes self-consumption and export are significantly more efficient. Solar during the day, wind at night... from the perspective of 'elegant efficiency' storage should be a last resort.
Wind is currently the cheapest renewable source we have on a per kWh basis. While I fully expect solar to eclipse wind (no pun intended) in the next ~5 years in terms of cost... it will likely ALWAYS be cheaper to generate energy with wind than to store solar. Wind and Solar are near perfect companions. Wind generates more power in the winter, solar more in the summer. Wind is most active in the early morning hours before the sun rises... when solar is generating nothing. The disadvantage of wind is that unlike solar it's not cost effective small scale. You need 1MW+ wind turbines and you generally can't install those in your backyard... fortunately for us, we have transmission lines.
One of the core principles where I work is 'Elegant Efficiency'... basically getting the most bang for your buck. If there is demand for power... it's more efficient to export it so it can be used than store it in a battery. If there is a clean supply of energy it is better to use it than draw it from a battery. One day we will have to choose between curtailing our panels or storing their production in a battery... Until that day comes self-consumption and export are significantly more efficient. Solar during the day, wind at night... from the perspective of 'elegant efficiency' storage should be a last resort.