If grid electricity is going to be so cheap, is there any point having solar panels on our roof? Simon Maine AMA

  • 7 September 2021
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If grid electricity is going to be so cheap, is there any point having solar panels on our roof? Simon Maine AMA
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Updated on 14/04/22 by Jess_OVO

 

OVO Energy’s Corporate Affairs Director, Simon Maine during an ‘Ask me anything’ event in August 2021:

 

“I think the thing I only lightly referenced is the compensation around system balancing and cost. That’s where we’ll have the balance between having on-site generation, which will be a good hedge against the grid-scale renewable generation because, as we know, the price could be a lot more volatile and it’s going to require balancing services. 

 

Having an on-site generation could be part of that balancing service ultimately because you can create negative demand on the grid and if you’ve got a battery in your home or indeed in your car, you can be part of that balancing between micro and macro on the grid, so there's a role for both because of the need for balancing on the system. 

 

The solar panels on our roofs, they’ve come down 90% in cost as well. It’s a fundamentally much cheaper technology than anyone ever dreamed of and it’s probably only going to get cheaper the more these things get mass-produced. So I think a nice cheap solar panel on your roof, producing nice cheap energy which you can control so you don’t have to rely on that pesky grid going up and down throughout the day, that’s got to be of some value.”

 

 

See our other Simon Maine AMA topics here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Another ‘find’ on my searches .. 

in my view there will be a need for a series of local generation feeds, be that from solar PV (domestic or large scale), wind (with more community schemes) or additional sources coupled with further storage capability (EV connection or battery storage). This will become a complex feed in/out situation at various grid nodes to maintain supply, especially at peak demand times. 

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