Rooftop solar effectively eliminated grid demand in South Australia on Saturday as it accounted for all but a few megawatts of demand in the world’s most renewable grid.
Adding onto this, there’s a benefit to decentralisation of the grid in general in making it less prone to grid wide problems, and cutting back on the need for transmission as you said (a big deal right now, given conservative farmers have been throwing a tantrum about it of late).
And home and vehicle batteries will help move demand to the middle of the day, meaning less supply needed at night.
I wonder how much effect reduced transmission is having on various things like efficiency because you’re using most of the energy where it’s being generated.
Adding onto this, there’s a benefit to decentralisation of the grid in general in making it less prone to grid wide problems, and cutting back on the need for transmission as you said (a big deal right now, given conservative farmers have been throwing a tantrum about it of late).
And home and vehicle batteries will help move demand to the middle of the day, meaning less supply needed at night.
I wonder how much effect reduced transmission is having on various things like efficiency because you’re using most of the energy where it’s being generated.
It’s definitely more efficient to use energy close to where it’s generated although I’m not sure by how much.
I think the answer is very complex and will depend on many factors.
It kinda becomes irrelevant if you’re comparing solar to coal or something anyway. Who cares if solar is “inefficient” if you’re replacing coal