Comment by malchow | Hacker News Reader

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Comment by malchow | Hacker News Reader

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Solar energy is cheap, as in $0.03/kWhr. (PG&E charges you $0.30/kHWhr.)

The best inverters convert solar DC to household AC at 97.6 % efficiency. [1]

Adding more solar is a question of adding another panel.

The inversion loss is a small price to pay for safe power. [2]

DC is probably not coming back as a way to wire houses and buildings.

[1] https://www4.enphase.com/sites/default/files/downloads/suppo...

[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-solar-panel-fires-beco...

the thing to really highlight here is that having microinverters on the back of each panel increases overall efficiency when even a single panel is partially covered (either by leaves, poop, or damage)

otherwise you chain a bunch of panels together in series and track the max power point there. This means that you don't quite optimise for each panel

DC might come back as a separate in-tandem network specifically for ceiling LED lighting.

It's more convenient to simply plug into a low voltage DC current wiring with a LED fixture than to install a AC-DC converter.

It's certainly something I've entertained doing for my own place.

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