Hacker News Reader

> When solar OVERproduces you have to literally pay someone to consume that energy,

Can't we just throttle the solar panel? In a worst case, you just pull the plug. It's not like a nuclear power plant which needs to be shut down carefully, or am I misunderstanding something?

View on HN

Yes that's exactly how it works, it's called curtailment.

You can limit amount you feed back into network.

Not sure how is situation with home installations, factory i work for runs 150kw plant for our own consumption and don't bother with selling, but i know that we can set up how much we want/are allowed to feed back.

You don't have to use net metering in residential either. Grid-supported hybrid inverters that won't export power can be installed. Bonus is that they run when the grid is down. It's effectively like having an automatic transfer switch where the grid is the backup generator when your batteries are drained. The profit margin for the pro installers is reduced so they don't promote them, but it is a viable route to save money and avoid hassles with the power company on a self-install.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com