> Are batteries the primary justification for "buy all sell all" over "net metering"?
> Are next-gen supercapacitors the solution?
With "Net Metering", electric utilities buy consumers' excess generated energy at retail or wholesale rates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_metering
With "Buy All, Sell All", electric utilities require consumers to sell all of the energy they generate from e.g. solar panels (usually at wholesale prices, AFAIU) and buy all of the energy they consume at retail rates. They can't place the meter after any local batteries.
Do I have this right?
Net metering:
(used-generated) x (retail || wholesale)
Buy all, sell all:
(used x retail) - (generated x wholesale)
For the energy generating consumer, net metering is a better deal: they have power when the grid is down, and they keep or earn more for the energy generation capability they choose to invest in.
Break-even on solar panels happens sooner with net metering.
Utilities argue that: maintaining grid storage and transfer costs money, which justifies paying energy generating consumers less than they pay for more constant sources of energy like dams, wind farms, and commercial solar plants.
Building a two-way power transfer grid costs money. Batteries require replacement after a limited number of cycles. Spiky or bursting power generation is not good for batteries because they don't get a full cycle. [Hemp] supercapacitors can smooth out that load and handle many more partial charge and discharge cycles.
Is energy storage the primary justifying cost driver for "buy all, sell all"?
What investments are needed in order to more strongly incentivize clean energy generation? Do we need low cost supercapacitors to handle the spiky load?
Are these utilities granted a monopoly? Are they price fixing?
Energy demand from blockchain mining has not managed to keep demand constant so that utilities have profit to invest in clean energy generation and a two-way smart grid that accommodates spiky consumer energy generation. Demand for electricity is falling as we become less wasteful and more energy efficient. As the cost of renewable energy continues to fall (and become less expensive than nonrenewables), there should be more margin for energy utilities which cost-rationally and environmentally-rationally choose to buy renewable energy and sell it to consumers.
Please correct me with the appropriate terminology.
How can we more strongly incentivize consumer solar panel investments?