Ben, if you can install enough batteries, as I believe you have, to go
completely off the grid, then of course there's no advantage to the
power company.
But, for most people, batteries in general can provide leveling to the
power company but not sustained power. That is, the power company can
use the batteries to smooth out spikes and dips but cannot use them (nor
would I want my battery used that way) to provide sustained power.
Sustained power must come from the power company.
Where you live, Ben, you don't need to worry about a string of 10 cloudy
dark days where solar PVs will be next to worthless. Much of the rest
of the country does have "down times" and will likely continue to rely
on the grid to cover those periods. Many don't even have the space to
install a battery if they wanted to. So, the power companies must have
the capacity to supply power through such periods.
My claim is the power companies stand to make more profit if they build
pumped storage instead of coal or nukes.
Peri
------ Original Message ------
From: "Ben Goren" <b...@trumpetpower.com>
To: "Peri Hartman" <pe...@kotatko.com>; "Electric Vehicle Discussion
List" <ev@lists.evdl.org>
Sent: 31-Mar-15 12:24:47 PM
Subject: Re: [EVDL] Making solar work in a conventional vehicle.
On Mar 31, 2015, at 12:12 PM, Peri Hartman via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org>
wrote:
Thus, if the power companies were to continue to charge the same rate
for electricity from pumped storage, they are making a better ROI than
from building out new traditional power plants.
Your analysis passes the "sniff test" for me from previous
experience...but, in a similar vein, the _real_ competition is from
rooftop solar and batteries of the type we're being told will be in the
Chevy B-as-in-what-a-clueless-marketing-department Bolt and that Tesla
is strongly hinting at will soon be coming from their Gigafactory.
With that, the grid ostensibly gets the leveling effect the power
companies want...but at the cost of losing a customer who now no longer
has any need for the grid at all.
My own utility, Salt River Project, just shot itself in the foot that
way. People like me with existing solar installations are grandfathered
for at least a couple decades -- but not if we sell the house.
Everybody else...will be paying almost as much as they'd be paying
without solar thanks to their new rate structure.
They missed the boat. They've bought a brief window of time between now
and the time of cheap batteries. They _could_ have embraced the change
and become the leading installer (and maintainer and financier!) of
rooftop solar as well as home batteries (sell it for the benefits of
the homeowner, profit from a claim on so much power it stores at the
utility's whim). Instead, they've signed their own corporate suicide
pact.
Once batteries *do* get cheap -- and they will very soon -- for those
with capital to invest it'll be cheaper to drop off the grid entirely
rather than stay connected. For new construction, solar with a battery
is already cheaper than grid connect fees. And, every customer they so
lose...well, the money they used to be getting from that customer now
has to get spread across the remaining customers, with their rates
exponentially increasing as it becomes more and more profitable for
more and more people to drop off the grid.
b&
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