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Solid_Hunter_4188 t1_ixzmjmr wrote

Reply to comment by michaelb1 in News Release: NREL Creates Highest Efficiency 1-Sun Solar Cell - 39.5% efficiency by TimeSpentWasting

Do you have a battery?

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mybreakfastiscold t1_ixzmppo wrote

"Couple of marine batteries should do the trick"

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Solid_Hunter_4188 t1_ixzrcv3 wrote

You joke, but I know people that got solar, didn’t think to store it, and are upset that they don’t have power at night. As stupid as it sounds, never underestimate peoples lack of understanding.

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thetaFAANG t1_iy1zcgf wrote

a lot of people dont do that because getting batteries messes up all the financial math for getting solar

Like, most people look at it and walk away completely, another group looks at it and sees just going solar like the proponents and sales people say would work as long as they dont get the batteries, and a smaller group can just afford it with batteries and isnt doing it to save on an electric bill 15 years from now

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BasvanS t1_iy337c7 wrote

Get an EV and you kill two birds with one stone

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Commisioner_Bush t1_ixzvgjg wrote

Almost all PV is connected to the grid, there's no point in having a battery unless you're totally off the electric grid, in which case obviously you need more infrastructure, like a backup generator, than what you'd need in a regular PV installment.

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darkgothmog t1_iy01q99 wrote

Batteries are useful to have higher autonomy. What you produced and not used during the day can be used during the night without buying it. Of course it’s useful

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AnonymousWritings t1_iy07kcm wrote

Only where utilities have idiotic net metering policies right now that let you effectively use your noontime summer production at any time of the year. Resulting in oversupplies if electricity during daylight hours.

Sensible policies that paid people differing amounts depending on what time of day electricity was released to the grid SHOULD be in place and would favor batteries.

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Commisioner_Bush t1_iy0l9ql wrote

The energy grid is fundamentally a battery, it would be asinine to have distributed battery sources storing energy for individual units when literally everybody is connected by a giant battery. The fact that it's not super profitable to store energy isn't a failure of the energy system, but the economic system that the grid must adhere to.

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AnonymousWritings t1_iy1146o wrote

It's not a battery. It's a set of generation sources that have to be ramped up and down to meet demand. And ramping up variable sources to meet peak demand times tends to be expensive for the grid.

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sjbglobal t1_iy27yfq wrote

If you live in a country with lots of hydro power then it kind of acts like a battery

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Emu1981 t1_iy13ap7 wrote

>Almost all PV is connected to the grid, there's no point in having a battery

It really depends on your usage patterns. For me it could be a great investment to get batteries if I had PV. The Feed In Tariff is about 20% of the cost of grid supplied KWh which means that having a battery to cover the period between when the sun goes down and the off-peak rates hit could save a decent amount of money. I would have to gather data (power consumption vs time of day) and do the maths to figure out if the cost savings would pay for themselves though and I am not going to bother to do that without having the option to put up PV in the first place.

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