Utilities are tapping into customers’ solar panels, home batteries and smart thermostats to avoid blackouts in a program establishing “virtual power plants.”
If it was really smart, it would let you set what you’re willing to sell energy at, then when the utility company says “we’re paying x, take it or leave it,” the system can say “leave it” until they decide to pay more. They aren’t buying from you because there isn’t a need, so why should you be paid low-demand prices?
Yeah, that would be an improvement, especially since the price per kwh can spike like crazy during situations where they really need you to sell back to the grid.
The only issue that I can see happening is that everyone would then move the ‘sell price’ slider to the maximum setting and leave it there and I’m not entirely sure the power companies would shrug and play along.
My $5 is that they’d keep the low offering price and just wait for SOMEONE to eventually decide that whatever, some ROI is better than no ROI and we’ll end up back where we started.
This is one of those problems that probably has to be actually regulated by someone “impartial” that’s setting the prices that are not unreasonable for either party, but I’m still in Texas and we can’t agree on regulating anything anywhere at any time, so I’m less than hopeful.
If it was really smart, it would let you set what you’re willing to sell energy at, then when the utility company says “we’re paying x, take it or leave it,” the system can say “leave it” until they decide to pay more. They aren’t buying from you because there isn’t a need, so why should you be paid low-demand prices?
Yeah, that would be an improvement, especially since the price per kwh can spike like crazy during situations where they really need you to sell back to the grid.
The only issue that I can see happening is that everyone would then move the ‘sell price’ slider to the maximum setting and leave it there and I’m not entirely sure the power companies would shrug and play along.
My $5 is that they’d keep the low offering price and just wait for SOMEONE to eventually decide that whatever, some ROI is better than no ROI and we’ll end up back where we started.
This is one of those problems that probably has to be actually regulated by someone “impartial” that’s setting the prices that are not unreasonable for either party, but I’m still in Texas and we can’t agree on regulating anything anywhere at any time, so I’m less than hopeful.
Well, Texas as a state has said that they’d rather people die repeatedly than regulate their electrical grid, so I think you’re right about that.