How many years before this happens in parts of the United States?

jillesvangurp an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Up to the locals in the US. Depends what their pain threshold is for falling behind and looking a bit behind the times. I think FOMO is going to be a big driver in a few years. This is not a left vs right topic. It's a money topic. And my impression of the US is that they love getting stuff on the cheap. Solar energy should be such a thing and it's getting painfully obvious that the US is paying a steep price where the rest of the world isn't. If I'm reading the situation correct, that is already annoying the hell out of a lot of traditionally republican leading states and not because they are tree-huggers.

The right question to ask is whether places like Mexico are going to politely wait for the US to get its act together or whether they'll just go ahead and start electrifying their country and industry and reducing their cost levels. The current isolationist policy works both ways. Very sunny place, Mexico. Great place for solar and batteries. And once you have those, Chines EVs produced locally might work very well. And they can export those further south.

	▲	kragen 23 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Mexico could start producing synfuels with abundant solar energy and exporting them to the US, but that is far from the course plotted by President Sheinbaum, even though (or perhaps because) her doctorate is in the use of energy. Instead she's doubling down on oil drilling.

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hamdingers 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In California, grid-tied rooftop solar was putting energy prices into the negative so often that they reconfigured the NEM to discourage export back to the grid and encourage battery storage.

	▲	Animats 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It seems to have worked, too.[1] Batteries are the invisible change in the power business. They don't take up much land area. They're not visible to the public. Just being able to charge batteries during low power cost periods changes the whole economics of the industry. Whether battery banks should be allowed to sell back to the grid is a tough question. Texas says no.[2] It's potentially "dispatchable" power, but only until the battery runs down. [1] https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-10-17/califor... [2] https://www.ercot.com/mktrules/keypriorities/bes/ktc8
	▲	_whiteCaps_ 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		And it's messing with our utilities in BC because we were buying the daytime oversupply in California and selling the hydro generated power back at night. They've had to adjust plans as battery storage comes online.

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newsclues 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Already does in some cases but the utility companies have fought back and they can buy laws and regulations to slow down the process and protect profits.