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Comment by chrishill89 | Hacker News Reader

I like the idea of getting rooftop solar. The solar cells themselves are cheap. But the hitch is (1) living far north, (2) cloudy climate, (2) hiring professionals, (3) paying for an inverter and other interconnections, (4) paying for a "safe for a house" battery if I want any solar after 14:00 in the winter (N) ...

This is Norway and it's been raining all summer. So you'd think hydro would make all of this moot. Doesn't seem it. Because the rates were high even after all the rain.

I have high hopes for solar and batteries, but for the grid. I don't like the idea of a grid upgrade coming indirectly via thousands of bespoke homeowner increase my property value projects.

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Inverters are indeed expensive, so are batteries (and you will need batteries to make good use of solar; otherwise, you will be getting the ridiculously low energy company rates for what you over-produce). Being far north is somewhat compensated by the fact that solar batteries run much more efficiently when they are cold. Also, modern solar cells are surprisingly effective on cloudy days, unless it is really dark.

> Being far north is somewhat compensated by the fact that solar batteries run much more efficiently when they are cold

Uh? It's a major pain in the ass, you actually need to heat these batteries, most won't even charge below 0c, their peak performance is in the 15-25c range

Sodium Ion Batteries like those under mass development by CATL offer an exceptionally Wide Operation-Temperature Range from −70 to 100.

Worth keeping an eye on. These have recently moved into mass production but I’ve personally not yet seen them come to market as available to retail buyers. Keep an eye out though!

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202116930?a...

https://www.ess-news.com/2026/04/20/a-closer-look-at-catls-n...

Sorry, it was a thinko — I meant "solar panels".

That far north batteries and solar don't make much sense in winter, by the time you can cover three cloudy winter days you'll generate enough energy in summer to be legally considered as a small local electric plant.

> rates were high even after all the rain

Do Norwegian hydro prices vary with rainfall?

I live in Western Wyoming. We feed off cheap Pacific Northwestern hydro. It's a fixed price. (I pay a bit more for wind + hydro, but it's still fixed.)

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