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Comment by black_puppydog | Hacker News Reader

As ever, Volts did a really good episode on this:

https://www.volts.wtf/p/how-to-make-rooftop-solar-power-as

Worth a listen, both to learn about how ridiculous the US situation is, and just how good the "news" of abundant solar is.

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David Roberts does not have an EE degree and misunderstands anything related to power system operations. Great for positive vibes and LCOE parading tho.

elaborate

I'm way less skeptical of Roberts than the parent commenter appears to be, but IMO he is more of a policy person than an engineering person. I still find the podcast very useful, with this lens in mind. There are other podcasts that get deeper into the engineering substance, and it's totally ok for different things to have different emphases.

What does "LCOE" stand for?

Perhaps Low Cost Of Electricity?

Your sibling comment is right. It stands for Levelized Cost Of Electricity.

I'm not asking for guesses thank you (especially if they turn out to be incorrect).

I stand corrected and educated.

Levelized cost of electricity. All the costs that go into producing from a given source (capex and opex) divided by the total power generated.

> All the costs that go into producing from a given source (capex and opex) divided by the total power generated

... total energy generated.

Good catch! One of my own biggest pet peeves too

You could try using arguments instead of an appeal to authority fallacy?

> David Roberts does not have an EE degree

Elon Musk doesn't have an automotive or aeronautical engineering degree. People can understand work they don't have a degree in.

> misunderstands anything related to power system operations

Do you have some examples?

Good thing he just interviews the technical experts who do. He more or less just gives people in the energy industry a megaphone to discuss the things they are doing.

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