https://archive.ph/eINck
"Extreme weather and higher electricity prices are leading American households
to bolt a record number of solar panels to their rooftops, loosening ties to
the power grid and the utilities that run it.
About 5.3 gigawatts of residential solar power capacity are to be installed
this year, the biggest year for new installations and roughly equivalent to
total rooftop solar capacity nationwide in 2015, the US Energy Information
Administration has forecast.
Installations jumped about 40 per cent year on year with about 180,000 US homes
adding systems in the second quarter, according to the latest data compiled by
consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Home electricity prices are forecast to rise 7.5 per cent this year after
climbing 4.3 per cent last year, according to the EIA. Rates have climbed
largely because of higher prices for natural gas used to fuel power plants.
“You’re going to continue to see some pretty big increases in monopoly utility
bills over the next few months and quarters and we’re seeing growth because of
that,” said John Berger, chief executive of Texas-based Sunnova, one of the
US’s largest rooftop solar installers.
Executives and analysts also point to the numerous storms, heatwaves and fires
across the country that have exposed deep vulnerabilities in the reliability of
power grids across the US. Hurricane Ian last month knocked out power to 2.6mn
customers in Florida. The storm came just days after Hurricane Fiona caused
blackouts in Puerto Rico.
“In Puerto Rico right now, sales are just vertical . . . they’re just off the
charts. I expect that is what’s going to happen in Florida behind this storm
[Ian]. It’s just natural human emotion,” Berger said."
Via
Future Crunch Oct 28, 2022:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-clean-water-rewilding-spain-tipping-points-clean-energy/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
