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Comment by B2oka | Hacker News Reader

Fundamental problem of this type of article: comparing $/kWh across energy sources without accounting for energy dispatchability. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispatchable_generation) See people commenting on Germany and Portugal situations or articles by this man (https://medium.com/@oliviercorradi)

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Yes. There are times in the German power grid when you can get paid for consuming (green) electricity!

Charging an EV sounds like the best way of taking advantage of that.

Too bad the grid is too dumb to let end-users actually get these prices.

And the distribution and transmission prices are usually fixed. But I think they should float with supply and demand too: the drivers of upgrades and failures are the peak-time users of capacity.

That’s what we do with data, don’t know why we don’t do it with electrons.

Some EV manufacturers are ahead of the game.

https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/02/contr...

My fear is some grid will sign an exclusive deal with XYZ company when they should really just expose the prices and markets to end-users.

Why yes, my intelligent electricity agent would like my dryer to book 2 kWh at 4AM-5AM with a 4cent penalty to me if you cancel.

Most of my loads are thermal, and I have lots of thermal banking available. If electricity prices are negative, run my A/C full tilt.

I encourage you to engage with and work with legislators in your jurisdiction to ensure open market exchanges exist, and that utility and consumer signaling are open standards.

Some developments of that here in the UK: https://www.ovoenergy.com/ev-everywhere/smart-charger

Solar, when combined with energy storage, can serve as a dispatchable resource. Even with battery storage, solar is already cheaper that existing dispatchable coal generation.

http://ieefa.org/ieefa-u-s-solar-plus-storage-is-undermining...

Interesting, even though it's just feasibility study > it would be economic for PacifiCorp to close the existing coal generation under question and replace that capacity with other resources, including new renewables, demand-side solutions, battery storage, gas peakers and open-market purchases Curious to see the exact combination of these options and their associated emissions

Xcel in Colorado has already started retiring coal plants in favor of renewables+storage based on bids for actual projects.

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/record-low-sola...

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/xcel-retire-coa...

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