Also, the interconnection queues for attaching your project to the grid are getting astronomically long now, and this is one of the biggest impediments to new renewable generation. One of the most valuable assets of a coal generation sites is its connection to the grid; all the rest of facility might have negative value, but the value of the connection can offset all that.
Utility scale solar is great, until you consider how to connect it up to load.
Are you working in an area with a low consumer density?
> Also, the interconnection queues for attaching your project to the grid are getting astronomically long now, and this is one of the biggest impediments to new renewable generation.
Yeah, that's unsurprising. Power Grids are not something that adapts fast to topological change.
With behind-the-meter solar, this peak is capped, and if the local solar is allowed to power the rest of the distribution nod with net metering, then that means less transmission too.
T&D must be sized for the peak, so lots of residential solar means a lower peak and lower T&D costs.
Of course, this goes agains the utility narrative, because they can't admit that or else their regulators might have to allow such residential net metering. Instead, utilities try to frame the argument that solar customers are taking away from their neighbors or somehow not paying their fair share.
But when evaluated as a whole system, using massive distributed solar along with utility scale is far cheaper than building it all utility scale due to the T&D savings.
I see many advantages, among them:
- You don't have to find new land; roofs are ideal for solar.
- No need for a huge project, financing, bureaucracy. Done in weeks.
- Costs are low and spread over tons of landowners instead of requiring fundraising and negotiations
- You can have literally thousands of workers busy creating solar power at the same time.
- You get geographic spread and will be less affected by clouds over your central solar plant.
- No single point of failure
- Less need for large and expensive long-distance powerlines
Rooftop solar puts the power to solve a problem in the hands of the people experiencing the problem and eliminates the need for a megaproject. This has turned out to be really powerful, rooftop solar has grown extremely quickly.
Technically, there's also distribution losses (just because we can do HVDC, 5% losses per 1000km, doesn't mean we want to spend the money for it); but I think it's mainly to avoid politicians decrying prime farmland being used for a thing they don't think looks as pretty as sheep grazing on grassy rolling hills.
But it depends on the country. Some countries have a whole lot of "low use" fields, like natural or industrial deserts. Others don't.
If the panels are in a field somewhere, an energy company gets the money.
If the panels are on my roof, I get the money.
By all means, it should be much cheaper to make large solar farm on some suitable place and buy the electricity from there. The fact that it isn't can't be explained by technical factors.