GM is pulling back on EVs

[GT 550]

They are no more dangerous than any other part of my domestic electrical system - safe

Quite. You didn't see where I said they were 'generally' safe?

My panels are 14 years old, they have had NO maintenance and are still producing 96% of their original output - reliable

Clearly wasn't referring to durability, which is clearly fine for you but it's not everyone's experience. To reiterate...reliable as a source of energy...until the sun doesn't shine and the EV needs charging. Reliable...until there's an outage which in some parts of the world occurs regularly and for lengthy periods...and the EV needs charging.

If you don't want them, don't like them, or they don't fit your agenda then fine - but don't 'create' problems that don't exist. For very many people and places they are fantastic.

I do have them. And I'm not 'creating' anything, these issues do exist. Maybe not for you or many others, but because they suit your circumstances perfectly doesn't mean they suit everyone everywhere. If you and the UK and others have your acts sorted great, but try walking in someone else's shoes for a bit and you'll find for millions of others it's possibly not the utopian ideal you're fortunate enough to be experiencing.

Add an EV to the mix - yes that is exactly what we do!

Awesome that it works for you. No, really. If it worked as well for everyone and it was as well within their means as it seems to be for you we'd all do it.

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[Gregs24]

Quite. You didn't see where I said they were 'generally' safe?



Clearly wasn't referring to durability, which is clearly fine for you but it's not everyone's experience. To reiterate...reliable as a source of energy...until the sun doesn't shine and the EV needs charging. Reliable...until there's an outage which in some parts of the world occurs regularly and for lengthy periods...and the EV needs charging.



I do have them. And I'm not 'creating' anything, these issues do exist. Maybe not for you or many others, but because they suit your circumstances perfectly doesn't mean they suit everyone everywhere. If you and the UK and others have your acts sorted great, but try walking in someone else's shoes for a bit and you'll find for millions of others it's possibly not the utopian ideal you're fortunate enough to be experiencing.



Awesome that it works for you. No, really. If it worked as well for everyone and it was as well within their means as it seems to be for you we'd all do it.

Exactly - try walking in the shoes of the millions of people who get on really well with solar PV.

Nobody is forcing you to do anything but lots of people CHOOSE to use them.

At a national level solar PV + wind (mainly offshore in the UK) is very good at supplying electricity here. When the sun goes down, the wind blows, or the tide flows or the hydro storage / batteries flow. All part of an integrated system. If you have them you know this of course which makes your comments even more odd?

I'm not really sure what the point is you are trying to make. Clearly solar PV works, clearly it works as part of an integrated system. Your original point was 'you can't generate electricity' (as in similar to drilling for oil personally) - well clearly you can and people do. What more is there to say?

 

[sk47]

So China is producing goods / services US citizens want to buy and you blame China for that! If China has the US 'over their knee' then the US only has the US to blame....

Hello; Every now and then something comes along we agree about. It is the fault of leadership and ABC (alphabet) agencies over many decades. Decisions were made long ago which helped push some manufacturing away.
Other decisions made by unelected environmental agencies prevent the mining of some rare earth minerals. I guess because the mining is too environmentally damaging, which makes some sense. I guess our companies do not want to be associated with such mining because of the negative image. I recall a popular celebrity of decades ago who had a clothing line. Turned out her stuff was made in sweat shops. She wound up having to apologize and best i recall lost that line.

But regardless the bulk of the production and apparently much of the mining for resources to make solar, wind and EV battery bits are controlled by other countries.. If we give up a last bit of autonomy by coming to depend on the "kindness of strangers" for energy and transport systems on which our lives will depend, that is not a wise choice.
Maybe the NIMBY stuff will have to change and toxic mining for rare earth materials will have to be done locally.
Maybe some financially sound way to promote local manufacture ought to be allowed to happen. I know physically sound people who get paid to stay home and do nothing. I taught a number of them in schools.

But I get how you and Burkey are not big fans of where I live and appear to be fine with it if China takes us over her knee, so to speak.

 

[K4fxd]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/volcanoes-erupting-spewing-ash-three-004508979.html

Well here we go. This volcano just might put enough ash in the air to block enough sun shine to cool off the planet.

See no BEV's needed.

 

[sk47]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/volcanoes-erupting-spewing-ash-three-004508979.html

Well here we go. This volcano just might put enough ash in the air to block enough sun shine to cool off the planet.

See no BEV's needed.

Hello; Yeah!

 

[AZlb5.0]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/volcanoes-erupting-spewing-ash-three-004508979.html

Well here we go. This volcano just might put enough ash in the air to block enough sun shine to cool off the planet.

See no BEV's needed.

DED

 

[Gregs24]

If it worked as well for everyone and it was as well within their means as it seems to be for you we'd all do it.

You can get 'free' solar PV in the UK. You allow a company to put the panels on your house and benefit from the non exported electricity for free. The company 'rents' the roof and gains the income from the exported power. No capital required.

 

[sk47]

You can get 'free' solar PV in the UK. You allow a company to put the panels on your house and benefit from the non exported electricity for free. The company 'rents' the roof and gains the income from the exported power. No capital required.

Hello; I do not recall the details but did know of a company in KY offering a similar deal. Made the news when they wound up in court is how i heard of the story. I will have a look to see if the story is still around. Best i can recall is some homeowners had big problems.

 

[sk47]

Hello; I do not recall the details but did know of a company in KY offering a similar deal. Made the news when they wound up in court is how i heard of the story. I will have a look to see if the story is still around. Best i can recall is some homeowners had big problems.

Kentuckians urged to do homework, watch out for solar scams as companies use aggressive marketing | NKyTribune



FOCUS investigates complaints against Solar Titan USA | whas11.com



BBB Scam Alert: “Free solar panels” can cost you big time! How to spot a phony offer



Free Solar Panels: Are They Really Free in 2023? | EnergySage

Hello; did not take long to find the information.

 

[Burkey]

But I get how you and Burkey are not big fans of where I live and appear to be fine with it if China takes us over her knee, so to speak.

This is news to me. I’m guessing it would be news to @Gregs2, if he hadn’t already ignored you for increasingly obvious reasons.

 

[sk47]

This is news to me. I’m guessing it would be news to @Gregs2, if he hadn’t already ignored you for increasingly obvious reasons.

Hello; Pretend it to be news if you wish. Comments are saved in posts from the last few years. Not as though we who follow these threads have the same lapses of recall you often express.

 

[GT 550]

Exactly - try walking in the shoes of the millions of people who get on really well with solar PV

The use of bolded text to reinforce a point is unfortunate, akin to yelling. If you're becoming belligerent perhaps take a break.

It's not clear what your definition of 'getting along really well with solar PV' is but it doesn't appear to be shared as broadly as you perhaps believe. You claim to be at a loss to understand my point/s, for clarity I'll remind you that one of them was around the conspicuous absence of national strategies/policies and grid sustainability, and the potential downstream effects. Please consider the UK based articles below, from a variety of sources, for further clarification unless of course you wish to dismiss all of it as baseless or erroneous.

At a national level solar PV + wind (mainly offshore in the UK) is very good at supplying electricity here.

Clearly solar PV works, clearly it works as part of an integrated system.

Or...not as much as you'd like to think in your backyard (bolding as per the source).

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...jects-in-limbo-as-grid-struggles-to-keep-pace

‘Lack of vision’: UK green energy projects in limbo as grid struggles to keep pace
Clean electricity plans stuck for years because of ‘negligence’ by governments over modernising network, say renewable energy developers

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent
Mon 8 May 2023 19.00 AEST

“If the government had a consistent well-thought-through vision, this would have been absolutely obvious,” says Harald Överholm. The chief executive of the Swedish solar firm Alight is one of many frustrated renewable energy developers hoping to build green energy projects to power Britain’s homes and businesses with affordable, clean electricity. The catch? These projects could be forced to wait more than a decade for a chance to connect to the UK’s electricity grid, as Britain suffers the longest backlog in Europe.


https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65500339

By Esme Stallard & Justin Rowlatt
BBC News Climate and Science

Billions of pounds' worth of green energy projects are on hold because they cannot plug into the UK's electricity system, BBC research shows.
Some new solar and wind sites are waiting up to 10 to 15 years to be connected because of a lack of capacity in the system - known as the "grid".
Renewable energy companies worry it could threaten UK climate targets.
National Grid, which manages the system, acknowledges the problem but says fundamental reform is needed. "We currently have one of the longest grid queues in Europe," according to Zoisa North-Bond, chief executive of Octopus Energy Generation.



https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/n...ble-energy-sources-could-cause-power-failures

New study reveals small-scale renewable energy sources could cause power failures
Wednesday, 02 March 2022

Renewable energy that feeds into the main power grid could destabilise the system and potentially cause power failures according to a new study.
Mathematicians from the University of Nottingham used data from smart meters to track how grid composition changes over time and found resilience varies over the course of a day and that a high uptake of solar panels can leave the grid more susceptible to failure. Their findings have been published today in Science Advances.

 

[Burkey]

Hello; Pretend it to be news if you wish. Comments are saved in posts from the last few years. Not as though we who follow these threads have the same lapses of recall you often express.

Having a distinct distaste for some American citizens isn’t the same as hating an entire nation.
I’d encourage those who think like you (ideally that number would be zero) to go back and view those comments with that in mind.

 

[sk47]

Having a distinct distaste for some American citizens isn’t the same as hating an entire nation.
I’d encourage those who think like you (ideally that number would be zero) to go back and view those comments with that in mind.

Hello; Guess the back and forth we had about Chinas emissions vs USA emissions could be a place to start. Wonder if your criticism of the USA where emissions are less than Chinas will translate to your dislike of me and other individuals personally or as i recall about the USA as a country.
In case you recall has lapsed again, the posts where you used per-capita emissions arguments to defend China. Or perhaps the posts where you give China a pass on building new coal power plants every ten days but do not give the USA when our coal plants are being decommissioned.

Yeah, no need to waste time and energy as i got the gist back then.

 

[Burkey]

The use of bolded text to reinforce a point is unfortunate, akin to yelling. If you're becoming belligerent perhaps take a break.

It's not clear what your definition of 'getting along really well with solar PV' is but it doesn't appear to be shared as broadly as you perhaps believe. You claim to be at a loss to understand my point/s, for clarity I'll remind you that one of them was around the conspicuous absence of national strategies/policies and grid sustainability, and the potential downstream effects. Please consider the UK based articles below, from a variety of sources, for further clarification unless of course you wish to dismiss all of it as baseless or erroneous.





Or...not as much as you'd like to think in your backyard (bolding as per the source).

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...jects-in-limbo-as-grid-struggles-to-keep-pace

‘Lack of vision’: UK green energy projects in limbo as grid struggles to keep pace
Clean electricity plans stuck for years because of ‘negligence’ by governments over modernising network, say renewable energy developers

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent
Mon 8 May 2023 19.00 AEST

“If the government had a consistent well-thought-through vision, this would have been absolutely obvious,” says Harald Överholm. The chief executive of the Swedish solar firm Alight is one of many frustrated renewable energy developers hoping to build green energy projects to power Britain’s homes and businesses with affordable, clean electricity. The catch? These projects could be forced to wait more than a decade for a chance to connect to the UK’s electricity grid, as Britain suffers the longest backlog in Europe.


https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65500339

By Esme Stallard & Justin Rowlatt
BBC News Climate and Science

Billions of pounds' worth of green energy projects are on hold because they cannot plug into the UK's electricity system, BBC research shows.
Some new solar and wind sites are waiting up to 10 to 15 years to be connected because of a lack of capacity in the system - known as the "grid".
Renewable energy companies worry it could threaten UK climate targets.
National Grid, which manages the system, acknowledges the problem but says fundamental reform is needed. "We currently have one of the longest grid queues in Europe," according to Zoisa North-Bond, chief executive of Octopus Energy Generation.



https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/n...ble-energy-sources-could-cause-power-failures

New study reveals small-scale renewable energy sources could cause power failures
Wednesday, 02 March 2022

Renewable energy that feeds into the main power grid could destabilise the system and potentially cause power failures according to a new study.
Mathematicians from the University of Nottingham used data from smart meters to track how grid composition changes over time and found resilience varies over the course of a day and that a high uptake of solar panels can leave the grid more susceptible to failure. Their findings have been published today in Science Advances.

Working in the industry gives me access to data that most people simply can’t acquire.
Below is a picture of where I live. The red/white dots represent supply points.. The yellow dots are solar connections. Eg. If you have solar, you are represented by both. I could also drag up battery installations but the uptake is so low (for good reason at the moment) that it was pointless. This will of course change once EV ownership gathers pace, leaving many people with a battery or two parked in their garage. But I digress….

For such a poorly operating system, I’m surprised by how popular it‘s become.
Ironically, the biggest issue we have here is that the transformers can only handle 33% of their rated capacity in solar. Eg. A 300KvA sub can only handle 100Kw of solar. Meaning, many of the customers can’t connect to solar because they waited too long, missing their opportunity. They could always pay for the required substation upgrade, but that would be prohibitively expensive at the individual level, OR, they can install solar and not send any power back to the grid. (We can’t see those people on the map I provided).


So, despite the high uptake rate, I can’t remember the last time we had an unplanned outage.

Now, that’s NOT to say that solar doesn’t present any challenges to the network. It most certainly does. Those challenges are relatively easily solved, but it costs money. The flip side is that many of those changes would deliver a better quality supply, even if solar wasn’t in the mix.

There’s also something else that many people seem to forget. Decentralising the production is actually a great idea in some respects. You’re far better off having 100 small producers than 1 really big one. Things gets ugly if that one fails, not so bad if you lose a couple of smaller ones here and there.

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