China Added More Solar Panels in 2023 Than US Did in Its Entire History
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
I could have surely done it for the good of mother earth but financially it made no sense.
This seems like a recurring theme in todays world.
Obviously I don't know your specific needs, or what quotes you got. But I'm willing to venture a guess that you got quotes from the standard solar companies - the ones that serve as all in one stops, project managements, permitting, purchasing, installing, etc. Those services are nuts!
I got a bunch of quotes from many of those types of companies for my own home a few years ago, and they all quoted me around $45k (+/- a few grand depending on the company). Realizing that was way to expensive, I put in a little elbow work and was able to come up with a quote for $18k to do the project management myself - I found a solar reseller (solarwholesale, no idea if they are still around) that quoted me $12k for the panels and installation hardware, plus they'd provide the architecture documents I'd need for permitting, the company that most recently installed my new roof quoted be <$2k to install the solar panels (just the hardware, no electrical connections), I spoke to a local electrician who quoted me ~$2k to do the electrical connections on the panels, the fuse box connections, and connection to the grid, and the remaining $2k was for miscellaneous things like permitting and other things I don't recall exactly.
It was work, but it was work well worth saving $27k compared to what the one-stop-shop solar installers want.
At least having an experienced general contractor overseeing the project reduces the chance that an individuals' ghosting could cause large delays.
If everyone could have a 10KW system for $2,000, they would.
China's so called "Commitments" to green energy are just (coal) smoke and mirrors.
Right now, it seems any trade work is prohibitively expensive. I recently redid my own garage roof added mini split systems because costs for roofers and HVAC is out of control and finding quality work is hard. I called an electrician out to run the circuits and it was $$$. Next time I'll run the wires myself and just have them do the connections.
As far as peak load solar doesn’t solve the problem for grid operators because peak electricity demand happens well after the sun stops producing which means that solar users are simultaneously paying less to maintain the grid while also putting the most variable load on the grid. This problem has been very thoroughly explored and debated, it is called the “duck curve” problem. The only solution to the duck curve problem is storage. That puts us back at square 1 where individuals operating small batteries and inverters cannot be as efficient as large scale battery banks that prolong the life of the same batteries through better thermal management and larger and fewer inverters etc.
Have the Pennsylvanians' solar tariffs helped or hurted American industry and trade relations? Are they still able to compete at internationally competitive price points given the presumed tariff advantage?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_tariffs#Solar_panels
Noting that for example US Steel is soon to no longer be domestically owned; and there the Pennsylvanians' trade protectionism didn't solve either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Steel
Would more tariffs have helped keep US Steel in the US?
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_crisis
List also leaves off things like: WW2 Japan being totally immobilized from lack of oil, Allies not pushing a faster end to Nazi Germany due to fuel limitations, US eastern fleet being threatened by the '73 embargo.
The prosperity and security of the nations of the world should not be beholden to a handful of often unstable oil states.
What's with all the deranged and obvious propaganda here? Your 'kid' really couldn't sleep for 2 night or did you make it up to push silly propaganda?
We shouldn’t look at every action taken by someone we disagree with and think: “let’s do the opposite”
Super relevant in the US today where both sides are unwilling to appreciate anything positive done by the other.
The US is held back by corporations that demand ever increasing profits and by political parties that roadblock each other such that it cannot focus any substantial effort on meaningful initiatives for change.
On the other hand, I agree that the person you're responding to didn't make a strong argument by posting something unrelated to solar energy manufacturing and deployment. No more than you did by responding with "but what about the USA...". Neither are helpful, salient, or convincing.
I only pointed back at the US to help reframe the situation in readers' minds who are mostly US based. The list of environmental damage by the US would also be too long to list so it seems unfair to have comments presenting 1 side without mentioning the other.
Corporations can't "demand" profits, profits are what the market conditions form.
Renewable energy will work in America once it makes more money than fossil fuels for the same input. Business in the U.S. is almost not susceptible to political shit.
"Business in the U.S. is almost not susceptible to political shit. "
That's because capitalists control politics. Their profits are more important than social wellbeing.
It was the one I remembered first. Solar panels can be one good thing and the dead sparrows and famine can be one bad ting, and they can balance each out perhaps?
> Is that supposed to discredit all actions by the country?
I didn't say or think of it that way, but you seem to. So, what do you think that action and the following famine exemplifies or points to?
My response was mainly tongue in cheek to the GP's point that communists are somehow the paragon or efficiency and no bullshit attitude.
> The US is held back by corporations that demand ever increasing profits and by political parties that roadblock each other such that it cannot focus any substantial effort on meaningful initiatives for change.
Yeah no doubt. I wonder what a good way forward is there?