Old Grid Makes New Energy A No-Go

An Outdated Grid Has Created a Solar Power Economic Divide; Utilities have upgraded the infrastructure for rooftop power in richer neighborhoods, but low-income areas don't have the same capacity.

Eric Niiler, September 16, 2021 (Wired)

“…[Inequitable access to distributed energy resources due to grid infrastructure limits in California finds some low-income and minority neighborhoods might be left behind, mainly because utilities haven’t upgraded the electrical grid equally everywhere…[Where rooftop solar isn’t as common, transformers that connect power lines to each home or business] are not built to carry extra power generated from rooftop panels in the opposite direction. Any extra current flow would be turned into heat, which can damage or destroy the transformers…[This] might also make it tougher to charge electric vehicles at home…

click to enlarge

Upgrades to an electric grid take years to complete and must be approved by each state’s public utilities commission. The cost is usually spread out among all ratepayers…Experts say it could cost up to $4.5 trillion, or about $35,000 per household, in the next 20 years to fully upgrade or “decarbonize” the existing US electric grid, according to a 2019 report by the energy consulting firm Wood MacKenzie. And a 2019 analysis by SCE says California alone will need to spend $33 billion a year until 2045 in order to reach its carbon-neutral climate goal, boost solar and other renewable forms of energy, harden the grid against wildfires and other effects of climate change, and modernize the grid to handle increased capacity…

click to enlarge

…[The just-released US Department of Energy Solar Futures report plans to increase solar to 40 percent of the nation’s generating capacity by 2035…[and] is developing new kinds of power current inverters that make two-way flow of electricity cheaper and easier, but that the upgrades aren’t happening as quickly as necessary…[An alternative to rooftop solar is] community solar, in which [renters, low-income residents, and homeowners without solar-suitable roofs] subscribe to a solar farm located outside the residential area…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet