consider the implications for a post scarcity future

Don't forget, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was just in China to protect US interests - this time because China has flooded the market with cheap solar panels.

We can't have solar power becoming affordable and accessible for most people.

Cynicism aside, there are genuine engineering and logistical problems with relying too heavily on solar power. Storage and distribution being chief among them.

Permanently Deleted

Opinion time:

Human population will grow to consume all there is, always.

We as a species will ever escape scarcity.

Energy generation requires intense planning as the amount generated has to be spent immediately.

Reason all countries require some sort of permission before installing solar power to your roof is this; as you can't just add more power to your grid without addressing proper storage for excess electricity or decreasing certain plant outputs.

I was thinking about something similar recently.

They say we have about 20 years to get to net zero, or face irreversible consequences, increasing exponentially to what is potentially species ending event.

let’s say we achieved nuclear fusion TOMORROW - solving all the planet’s energy need need immediately and forever.

Capitalism means we would be FORCED to drip feed the technology, because plentiful energy cheaper than water would crash the world economy.

Renewable energy is great

Having a power grid is great, needs money to maintain

Having on demand power generation is great, needs money to maintain.

The current model pays for the maintenance and carrying costs of the grid and always available power generation with usage.

The current model doesn't work when electricity has a negative cost. So we would lose either the on demand power generation or access to the grid.

It's not capitalism that's the problem, just the current pricing model.

Well the point is the powerplant, if not currently a municipal service, has to pay for itself, make capital improvements, pay wages, etc.

If the powerplant doesn't have "regular" income they are in a tougher spot and "may" go out of business.

Solar and green energy is wonderful and we need more and more. But we should agree we want power at any time, in any condition, so the powerplant currently still needs to exist.

This problem is not wholly removed if the powerplant is a municipal service either.

Edit Not sure what the downvotes are for, nothing I said is wrong. I even praised green energy.

Curious what the current average cost is for solar on a home? Sadly I haven’t been keeping up with the technology to really have a frame of reference. 🤔

Negative prices are good for BESS. It also has no bearing on the consumption market, which is detached from the generation market (so they can charge consumers more).

Ahem. Please don't use Twitter

I am pretty sure this is terribly taken out of context. The issue is solar is unreliable. By being cheap, it is pushing reliable sources out of business. And if you want to know how bad the consequences can be, just look at how many people died due to the relatively small blackout in Texas.

So the issue is not capitalism disliking solar. The issue is capitalism liking solar too much. Endangering people by choosing cheap over reliable.