The Hawaiian Electric Power Company is squawking about the effects of rooftop solar:
http://www.hawaiianelectric.com/heco/_hidden_Hidden/CorpComm/Hawaiian-Electric-Companies-propose-plan-to-sustainably-increase-rooftop-solar They make valid points here. It is not reasonable to ask the power company to act as distribution network for PV electricity while not paying them for that service. As I said, I doubt cold fusion will need any kind of distribution network for backup. No one will sell excess power from home generators because it will be worth nothing, once cold fusion penetrates a large fraction of the market. (I am guessing maybe half.) I am assuming that by that time, cold fusion generators will be about as reliable as today HVAC equipment, meaning that outages and emergency repairs will happen less often than today's power company outages, for fewer hours per year. Needless to say, this will lead to the quick demise of the power companies. Interesting quote: Across the three Hawaiian Electric Companies, more than 51,000 customers have rooftop solar. As of December 2014, about 12 percent of Hawaiian Electric customers, 10 percent of Maui Electric customers and 9 percent of Hawaii Electric Light customers have rooftop solar. This compares to a national average of one-half of 1 percent (0.5 percent) as of December 2013, according to the Solar Electric Power Association. If ~10% of mainland U.S. customers in places like Florida and Georgia install rooftop solar, the power companies in Florida and Georgia will be in the same kind of trouble the Hawaiian power companies are in. Going from 0.5% to 10% is not such a leap. - Jed
