California is making so much solar energy the rest of the country looks like a joke

Switzerland is blessed with mountains and thus opportunity for hydropower though :smiley:

I couldn't find anything specific for ZĂźrich, but Switzerland as a whole doesn't seem to do too well. Wikipedia sums it up nicely

[...] 85% of energy used is imported, mostly derived from fossil fuels and nuclear power.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Switzerland#Renewable_energy_in_Switzerland; Note that it lacks a source.)

In general, be wary when anyone makes claims to use clean energy. That energy is often imported and typically not green at all.

3900 kWh / year? 3900 Watts of continuous energy?

Typically hydropower isn't entirely green as it wreaks waterways due to flooding rivers to produce dams which is used to generate the power.

When you flood a river for extended periods of time a few things happen, BAD sediment forms on the bottom such as asternic/mercury deposits which would typically be washed out down the river and eventually to sea, and algae blooms and plant life can choke the water of oxygen killing off species of aquatic wildlife and plants.

This is what NZ has happening now and their power is not cheaper for it, which begs the question as to why do hydropower when there are more eco friendly solutions, even ocean based turbines are better.

True. I totally forgot about that.

You heard him Switzerland! Get yourself an ocean goddammit.
... says the austrian.

In all seriousness, there's just not many other options. Solar power and wind turbines require large free areas, both of which are problematic when there's mountains everywhere.

Large free areas, like roof tops of houses? The government just has to introduce a incentive, or start some sort of power generation policy and slap them on peoples roofs regardless, perhaps give them some kickback like reduced power costs for letting government use roof. Perhaps give owners a option to buy said installation sometime down the line also.

That makes damn good sense to me, but yeah, whatever.

In other news Elon Must is installing a battery+solar power generator thing-o here in South Australia, will be interesting.

Good for the occupants, but you won't be powering industries with a few panels on rooftops. Especially with electric cars on the rise.

So he got the contract then. Good.
100 days left

Are power outages such a large issue in Australia? And if so, any insights as to why?

You'd be surprised how much rooftop real estate exists in towns and cities, there is a calculator online to figure it all out. I remember doing such calculation at university, there is definitely enough to power industry and recharge cars, the issue is you need a BIG battery system like what Elon is installing in order to use that power during sundown time periods.

Z

The entire country yes. But Zurich as the biggest city wanted to prove that it is possible. So the where from like from 2005 till somewhere around 2012 they succeeded.

Since then the usage of electricity also dropped from somewhere around 8000kwh/year to 3900.
They only could do it by regulating the industry first and supporting the people building new homes according to eco standards. For example they would give you money if you chose solar energy or water over atomic...
The only proof I found was in German and the official website of EWZ. Which is our electricity company.
So yeah we're not many but we do our best in being the greenest Kanton

But isn't it always sunny in California?

think that is philadelphia

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Fair enough.

To give an actual answer to the question though, we do have about 90 to 120 days where it's completely overcast and my solar panels produce less than 1kwh in that day. I normally produce 50-60 per day.

On a related note, I just found out that while I pay 24c/kw, my dad who's in a higher bracket is paying 40c/kw for power in San Diego. So apparently we're making too much power, but we still can't lower prices? Sounds like bullshit to me.

too much power during peak time ≠ too much power

Also, power is useless when it is produced in the wrong places, unless the grid is capable of transferring it to where it's needed.

That's true.

I live about 60 miles from the major solar plants. That's not a huge distance. I know power is being transmitted across greater.

As far as peak time, that sounds like a "you problem" (in regards to the utility companies) Maybe they should talk to Tesla and get some batteries or something.

Besides, the solar plants in SoCal are using molten salt as an energy storage mechanism. So, basically, it works at night.

60 miles are a very short distance indeed. Hey, that's almost as far as outer space!

An underpowered grid does make things more difficult than just lowering prices. Not an excuse for not tackling the situation however.

Batteries are expensive though. Maybe Elon's PR stunt in Australia will help.

That's my issue. About 10 years ago (maybe closer to 15 now) they shut down the nuclear reactor in the region. I don't remember the details but they needed to make repairs. The repairs would cost about a billion dollars. It would cost about the same to safely decommission the reactor. They chose to decommission it and cost the taxpayers 1 billion dollars, in addition to charging them increased electricity rates. They're constantly making the situation worse rather than better. I'm more than a little frustrated with them right now.

That's true, they already have salt pillars, so we don't really have to worry about energy production from solar panels in the night on proper solar plants.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you on most points, I'm just frustrated that there isn't even a solution being proposed.