You are totally correct, a solution is already available.
Of course we can still work on better solutions and that would be a large intercontinental grid and storage.
Myself I'm looking at adding an electric heating element to my gas fired water heater and when available use excess solar power.
I think the OP was from Germany, let's say N-W Europe.
That part of the world has a very high standard of reliability for their power grid, things like a UPS are al but unknown.
Another big factor is that except for the large trunk lines everything is underground making it far more reliable than the US system of stringing wires to dead trees.
There is a problem in Germany and on different fronts they work on it.
One is to build a larger backbone of transmission lines but that's seriously delayed by lot's of NIMBY's.
The other is to build more (expensive) gas turbines that can be started up in minutes if not seconds if demand needs it.
An important measure is to regulate the inverters that sit between the PV panels and the net, they will automatically cut off when the Voltage get's too high and in future they will be centrally controlled.
Domestic smart meters are already being rolled out for years and they also help utilities to monitor and control generation and distribution.
Around here we have 230Volt mains, the inverters from the solar panels have a cut off at 255V (230 +/- 10%), so if the Voltage gets any higher they'll switch off.
A next and simple step would be that it's a gradual down-turning of the output, say 100% output below 245V, 50% at 250V or even more finely regulated.
But such systems are already existing on large plants
I was recently shopping around for PV panels and found out Germany requires a controller for domestic use to have an interface for a future monitoring and controlling system.
In Europe the generator and distributor are already separate entities and it's the generator that has to pay x cents per KWh for transport.
I fear I would then end up with two bills, one covering the cost of the energy I want and another to allow the delivery of that energy to the location I desire...
I really don't understand what worries you, over here the lines do belong to a separate company and I can shop around for a supplier of electricity Exactly the same as with internet or telephone, many providers to choose from, one utility that does the delivery.
I pay one bill that has the KWh's and transmission as separate items, transmission is then paid by the electric supplier/provider to the cable company, it's not my worry at all.
Oh yeah, surprise, there's a third item on that bill, taxes ):
1 : Yes until a couple of years ago we had a fairly even distribution of wealth.
2a: See 1.
2b: The world over there is a documented correlation between income and height.
2c: Indeed, Dutch women have for generations been independent.
1 revisited, the Dutch public health system was since many years available to all and had from the beginning a strong emphasis on pre- and post natal care, including good nutrition for both mother and child.
Police officer Michael T. Slager, the name Slager is Dutch for Butcher...
As an outsider, i.e. non-USA, I'd say the perfect example of a trigger happy 'culture'.
Around here a copper would be done for disproportional violence just for pulling his gun or Tazer on an unarmed man.
You'd be the perfect participant in one of those cooperative plants, get some similar people together + the owner of a large roof or piece of land and set up a generating facility as shareholders
While it's absolutely true you get better efficiency in the south you'd also see a rather high investment in transmission lines.
Besides, having your (renewable) energy production geographically distributed is never a bad idea.
Look here, when first Italy and later Greece joined the union they had every chance to become prosperous.
Then there's just that little issue of you guys voting for parties that like to spend without first finding the income to do so.
Indeed the present German disposal sites suffered extremely bad management.
But there are several proposed sites that look really good if it wasn't for the usual NIMBY crowd (kraut?)
You have clearly not kept up with the rates of solar take up in the UK, compared to other EU countries it's nothing to be ashamed of.
Yes for efficiency's sake the weather could be better but it's still quite well possible, you do realise these cells will even generate power on cloudy days?
A complex dilemma you've painted.
But it's all in the (your) mind:)
Yes renewable energy seems to cost more than conventional fossil but then the last has hidden costs regarding the environment now and in the future.
I'm really curious why you brought up the subject of trees, do you maybe feel we need to cut down trees for large scale PV deployment?
Like yesterday I ordered PV cells covering about half my garage roof and they'll be good for some 125% of my annual consumption and that's at 52 degs. North.
A few hundred square kilometres in some nice deserts (+ a lot of transmission infrastructure) would cover the needs of the planet.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course we can still work on better solutions and that would be a large intercontinental grid and storage.
Myself I'm looking at adding an electric heating element to my gas fired water heater and when available use excess solar power.
That part of the world has a very high standard of reliability for their power grid, things like a UPS are al but unknown.
Another big factor is that except for the large trunk lines everything is underground making it far more reliable than the US system of stringing wires to dead trees.
http://energytransition.de/201...
One is to build a larger backbone of transmission lines but that's seriously delayed by lot's of NIMBY's.
The other is to build more (expensive) gas turbines that can be started up in minutes if not seconds if demand needs it.
An important measure is to regulate the inverters that sit between the PV panels and the net, they will automatically cut off when the Voltage get's too high and in future they will be centrally controlled.
Domestic smart meters are already being rolled out for years and they also help utilities to monitor and control generation and distribution.
Around here we have 230Volt mains, the inverters from the solar panels have a cut off at 255V (230 +/- 10%), so if the Voltage gets any higher they'll switch off.
A next and simple step would be that it's a gradual down-turning of the output, say 100% output below 245V, 50% at 250V or even more finely regulated.
Such control is already in place for the large PV plants, it's only a matter of time until the domestic ones are going to be part of such a system.
But such systems are already existing on large plants
I was recently shopping around for PV panels and found out Germany requires a controller for domestic use to have an interface for a future monitoring and controlling system.
In Europe the generator and distributor are already separate entities and it's the generator that has to pay x cents per KWh for transport.
I fear I would then end up with two bills, one covering the cost of the energy I want and another to allow the delivery of that energy to the location I desire...
I really don't understand what worries you, over here the lines do belong to a separate company and I can shop around for a supplier of electricity
Exactly the same as with internet or telephone, many providers to choose from, one utility that does the delivery.
I pay one bill that has the KWh's and transmission as separate items, transmission is then paid by the electric supplier/provider to the cable company, it's not my worry at all.
Oh yeah, surprise, there's a third item on that bill, taxes ):
For a nation in denial you should have a look at the Japanese...
Ah the days when umacs was the editor of choice, a large HD was a full 10MB and backing up required 70 floppies.
Yeah sure, but until it handles Linux it's fairly pointless to this discussion...
1 : Yes until a couple of years ago we had a fairly even distribution of wealth.
2a: See 1.
2b: The world over there is a documented correlation between income and height.
2c: Indeed, Dutch women have for generations been independent.
1 revisited, the Dutch public health system was since many years available to all and had from the beginning a strong emphasis on pre- and post natal care, including good nutrition for both mother and child.
We Dutch are not your 'most people'.
Interesting, esp. in the light of facts, the Dutch have the lowest per capita no. of teen pregnancies and use of antibiotics...
And, since Slashdot is a US centric site, I like it when things are put into American common terminology.
Ah yes, US centric but also for nerds and others close to science.
And science has little patience with that old fractured system.
Police officer Michael T. Slager, the name Slager is Dutch for Butcher...
As an outsider, i.e. non-USA, I'd say the perfect example of a trigger happy 'culture'.
Around here a copper would be done for disproportional violence just for pulling his gun or Tazer on an unarmed man.
My calculations were based on € 0.23 per kWh and payback will be after seven years.
You'd be the perfect participant in one of those cooperative plants, get some similar people together + the owner of a large roof or piece of land and set up a generating facility as shareholders
But there are plenty of models to calculate one from the other.
While it's absolutely true you get better efficiency in the south you'd also see a rather high investment in transmission lines. Besides, having your (renewable) energy production geographically distributed is never a bad idea.
Coal power comes with a rather huge CO2 mortgage payable in the future and by all.
Look here, when first Italy and later Greece joined the union they had every chance to become prosperous.
Then there's just that little issue of you guys voting for parties that like to spend without first finding the income to do so.
Indeed the present German disposal sites suffered extremely bad management.
But there are several proposed sites that look really good if it wasn't for the usual NIMBY crowd (kraut?)
Oh, not measurable in kWh?
Just type these five words into a search bar and be wiser: "energy needed to heat water".
Yes for efficiency's sake the weather could be better but it's still quite well possible, you do realise these cells will even generate power on cloudy days?
A complex dilemma you've painted. :)
But it's all in the (your) mind
Yes renewable energy seems to cost more than conventional fossil but then the last has hidden costs regarding the environment now and in the future.
I'm really curious why you brought up the subject of trees, do you maybe feel we need to cut down trees for large scale PV deployment?
Like yesterday I ordered PV cells covering about half my garage roof and they'll be good for some 125% of my annual consumption and that's at 52 degs. North.
A few hundred square kilometres in some nice deserts (+ a lot of transmission infrastructure) would cover the needs of the planet.