Feed the grid with solar power all day and charge up the cars at night. Cheapest battery pack ever, I love it!
If you haven't installed a PV system yet, look into it.
If you haven't installed a PV system yet, look into it.
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I've had this discussion with the head of my local electrical co-op. They have been gradually raising the basic service charge that covers infrastructure and it is now up to $20/month. That is most, but not yet all, of the cost of maintaining the grid and office support, divided by the 13,000 individual meters. When the monthly service charge gets to $25 it will be pretty close to breakeven here. This is in a co-op with a huge, lightly populated, territory comprising some of the most rugged terrain in the country.It will have to change at some point as we aren't supporting the infrastructure, but until then it sure is fun while it lasts!
I've had this discussion with the head of my local electrical co-op. They have been gradually raising the basic service charge that covers infrastructure and it is now up to $20/month. That is most, but not yet all, of the cost of maintaining the grid and office support, divided by the 13,000 individual meters. When the monthly service charge gets to $25 it will be pretty close to breakeven here. This is in a co-op with a huge, lightly populated, territory comprising some of the most rugged terrain in the country.
Once the basic service charge gets to breakeven, I don't think that grid-tied solar customers need to worry about being subsidized by other ratepayers.
I try to charge my car at midday to use my solar, and that of some of my neighbors, directly. If I have to charge at night on coal it bugs me!
I disagree. With my net metering I use my co-op's grid as my battery and never pay for electricity. Why should I not be expected to contribute to the upkeep of the grid and back-office of the co-op? Am I better than and deserving of subsidy by other ratepayers because I have solar? I don't buy it.It's SIGNIFICANTLY more complicated that that. I wish commission staff would do their jobs and stop this service fee hiking nonsense...
You do need to consider the fact that your solar production contributes to grid stability by providing a distributed source of power. This means that your solar can contribute to shaving peaks making the grid more stable and reducing the need to build increased grid capacity.I disagree. With my net metering I use my co-op's grid as my battery and never pay for electricity. Why should I not be expected to contribute to the upkeep of the grid and back-office of the co-op? Am I better than and deserving of subsidy by other ratepayers because I have solar? I don't buy it.
Since the co-op is member-owned and our membership strongly supports renewables and efficiency, unlike the vast majority of co-ops in our four state region, we also have numerous rebates for renewables, LED lighting, efficient appliances and similar things. We even have a rebate for the purchase of electric cars (presumably considered more efficient than fossil fuel cars). We also have what was, at the time of construction, the largest community-owned solar array in the country. If I don't like the direction of the co-op I can vote for a board member more to my liking or run for the board myself.
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^ Our community solar array.
I disagree. With my net metering I use my co-op's grid as my battery and never pay for electricity. Why should I not be expected to contribute to the upkeep of the grid and back-office of the co-op? Am I better than and deserving of subsidy by other ratepayers because I have solar? I don't buy it.
In my view, I do get credit for my solar production because my co-op allows me to bank solar credit almost indefinitely (up to a maximum of 10,000 kWh) for use on cloudy days and in winter when my usage increases and my production decreases. To me that is a huge benefit of the net metering setup here. A subsidy, if you will.You do need to consider the fact that your solar production contributes to grid stability by providing a distributed source of power. This means that your solar can contribute to shaving peaks making the grid more stable and reducing the need to build increased grid capacity.
As more distributed generation is built, the load for the grid becomes much less. If you then add distributed batteries to the mix, it becomes an even better situation for the utility. (See Green Mountain Utility: Whoa! Heatwave Savings for All GMP Customers Could Reach $500,000 Thanks to Innovation and Storage - Green Mountain Power )
Your solar production is actually a good resource for the utility company and you should get credit for that.
This statement bears some scrutiny. If you export PV it is likely going to a neighbor. Without your contribution the electricity is coming from the wholesaler. Those are not equivalent grid uses; and if I am thinking about this correctly, the PV export is always less wear and tear on the utility grid than from the wholesaler.I disagree. With my net metering I use my co-op's grid as my battery and never pay for electricity.
To my way of thinking, the way to put a utility on a diet is to avoid further capital expenditure, which means no new transmission capacity. Distributed generation and demand management are the best ways to manage the grid within your existing infrastructure. Well, unless you were talking specifically about the fat-cat executives at the utility.This statement bears some scrutiny. If you export PV it is likely going to a neighbor. Without your contribution the electricity is coming from the wholesaler. Those are not equivalent grid uses; and if I am thinking about this correctly, the PV export is always less wear and tear on the utility grid than from the wholesaler.
The other issue with raising monthly costs as PV penetration grows is the tendency to cover reduced revenues this way when the better answer (at least in part) is to put the utility on a diet.
Sort of. I was thinking of the fixed costs that are not infrastructure related.Well, unless you were talking specifically about the fat-cat executives at the utility.
It will be interesting to see how the big commercial utilities adapt. As battery prices fall more customers will be able to go off-grid, leaving fewer customers to support the current infrastructure. Restricting the ability to net-meter risks forcing customers to abandon the grid entirely. I view this as a foolish long term strategy but it may be that utility execs are thinking short term about their own careers -- "I'll be retired by then, so the .change doesn't matter."
@SSonnentag: Is this a rooftop solar system? Do you have any spare roof space you'd be able to use to generate even more power to export to the grid if that would get you compensated appropriately? Are you using 20% efficient panels, or something in the ballpark of 12% where in principle if you wanted more power from the space used by your panels you'd be able to upgrade to more efficient panels?