AC panels – smart panels are dumb May 5, 2013
Posted by Maury Markowitz in Uncategorized.add a comment
Ever since microinverters and optimizers started hitting the market a few years ago, every one of these companies keeps talking about “AC panels”, also known as “module integration” or even “smart panels”.
The idea is that you put the inverter electronics right on the panel, so the installer doesn’t have to do two things at the construction site. Just install the panel, and AC power is coming out. Plug that into the breaker panel in the basement, presto, solar power system up and running.
This is a great idea, in theory. But non-standardization is dooming any possibility this will work. All of this would be trivial to fix, but I can’t find anyone in the industry that even sees the problem, let alone any reason to fix it.
So what exactly is the issue?
Microinverter update May 1, 2013
Posted by Maury Markowitz in solar.Tags: microinverters
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Much to my surprise, my previous article on microinverters turns out to be the most popular one on this site. Now more that a year old, it continues to generate a stream of readers each and every day. I guess that means this is a topic of some interest out there on the interwebs.
Much has happened since I wrote that article, and much hasn’t. So here a little update for everyone on what’s been going on in the last year in the microinverter space.
Fusion, the power of wishful thinking April 21, 2013
Posted by Maury Markowitz in nuclear.add a comment
I got Sun in a Bottle by Seife the other day, a book on the history of nuclear fusion. Here’s my mini-review… and, of course, a comment.
Grid parity in Ontario April 17, 2013
Posted by Maury Markowitz in FIT program, solar.add a comment
Talking to several local installers, I’m finding that 10 kW microFIT systems can go in at as little as $32,000, fully commissioned. In power-industry lingo, that’s $3.20 a watt. And if you’re not on microFIT and don’t need Ontario content, you can cut another 20 cents off that.
The effective cost of electricity from solar PV is basically a function of the cost of the system and pretty much nothing else. So what rate do we get when we plug in 3.20 a watt into a calculator? You get 16.6 cents/kWh. And what do you get if you plug the current 12 cent average rate for power off the grid? 17 to 20 cents.
So that’s that. We’ve hit grid parity in Ontario.
With friends like these… March 21, 2013
Posted by Maury Markowitz in solar power satellites.add a comment
I can’t believe I missed this… Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, was giving a talk on, well, stuff, when someone asked him about space based solar power. His response?
“You’d have to convert photon to electron to photon back to electron. What’s the conversion rate?” he says, getting riled up for the first time during his talk. “Stab that bloody thing in the heart!”
What makes this most amusing is that Musk’s name is continually dropped as the way that space based solar power will become economically attractive. His rockets, it’s claimed, points to a future where SPS’s are economically possible. But they don’t, and even he dismisses the possibility.
So the power companies don’t want it, the solar power industry doesn’t, people looking to save outer space think it’s terrible, and even the people making the rockets they would buy think it’s dumb. That’s pretty much the royal flush.
Wells to wheels: electric car efficiency February 22, 2013
Posted by Maury Markowitz in Uncategorized.2 comments
One common argument against electrifying the car is that it really does nothing but move the engine from one place to another. Instead of burning gas under the hood of the car as you drive, it’s burned in a power plant in a field somewhere instead. Sure, that moves it away from people, but the overall effect is pretty limited.
*sigh* Math time!
