Re: Grand Apagon - Electricity (not) in Spain

On 30/04/2025 11:50 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:

On 30-Apr-25 8:37 pm, Bill Sloman wrote:

Adding the battery to your roof-top solar does seem to be surprisingly popular here.
>

 I don't think we in Australia ever had the economically nonsensical net metering that the USA is only now trying to get rid of. If your electricity provider lets you use the grid as a battery for free, then there's no economic case for installing a real one.

The Australian utilities don't let you use the grid as a battery for free any more .
At first they accepted excess current generated by roof-top solar and paid a reasonable price for it, but when it got popular they dropped the price and starting charging for current accepted when the grid was getting more current an it could use (and charge for).
Installing a a real battery to back up your roof-top solar became a lot more popular a that point.
One of my more distant acquaintances is a fan of "community" batteries where a bunch of people with roof-top solar pool their generated current in a single not-all-that-big-battery. The utility companies aren't all that sympathetic to the idea, and seem to make the process as difficult as an obstructive bureaucracy can, so there don't seem to be any examples around here. Or none that he knows about.
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Bil Sloman, Sydney