World-first trial lets WA residents sell their own excess solar power

W A Today ^

[ameribbean expat]

The technology behind virtual currency 'bitcoin' has enabled Perth to launch a world-first trial to let people with solar panels sell their excess electricity to each other, not back to the grid.

[Red Badger]

Excess solar power? In Washington State??????????........

[Paladin2]

Uber Power.....

[Paladin2]

Wash. is in Australia?

[Red Badger]

It would have to be to get excess!........

[ameribbean expat]

‘Blockchain’ software will show residents of 10 homes what would happen if they were to trade their electricity with their neighbours, how much they would make and how it would work.

Hope those homes aren’t next to each other...”Turn off the lights when you leave a room...you’re paying for the Jones’ vacation again”.

[Red Badger]

WA = West Australia!.......

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

When it is all said and done they will pay more not less

[norwaypinesavage]

The extension cords running to all the neighbor’s houses must be quite expensive.

[palmer]

Maybe it’s just me, but I like reliable electricity.

[WENDLE]

Give me coal and NG FOREVER.

[super7man]

”Turn off the lights when you leave a room...you’re paying for the Jones’ vacation again”.

When my kids were in their early teens, I told them that I would pay them the savings difference in our electricity bill compared to the same month the previous year. Man, they turned into electricity ninjas. You would walk down the hall and the lights would go out. Turning around to see one of the kids at the other end of the hall with their finger on the switch. Each made about $40 that month.

[super7man]

Maybe it’s just me, but I like reliable electricity.

Everybody is still hooked up to the grid. The whole thing is really a shell game.

[Paladin2]

That's a primary characteristic of a 1st World Country.

Back in the day AT&T spend lots of dough at Bell Labs to make the phone system highly reliable.

I've found solar/IC engine/battery bank/inverter emergency power to be expensive to buy/operate/tend.

Reliable Utility Power is an efficiency in daily life.

[palmer]

I’ve got some batteries charged with solar but they won’t last long even with just the fridge. A generator would be nice and a lot cheaper than the solar and batteries. But you are right the pros running the grid do it much better.

[funfan]

Smart parenting right there!

[D_Idaho]

That’s exactly what I thought. LOL

[D_Idaho]

For the record, WA state has an average of 152 sunny days per year. Add in some cold, wet winters and the prospects of selling excess solar back to the grid sound remote.

[husky ed]

That's the average. Over in the desert SE part of the state we get more than 300 days. Still solar won't run the AC when it's 110 for 30 days straight with the rest of the things in your house needing power too.

That's why there's a Nuc plant 20 miles up river ;-)

Ed

[wita]

Pick a State, even the most southern are going to find it IMPOSSIBLE to make this work during the hours of darkness. I have to assume they think battery technology is going to have a yuge improvement, but that in no way is going to make up for the 12 or so hours of reduced to NO sunshine and that doesn’t begin to address weather.