Is this an overcapacity issue or an underutilization issue? Yeah, I get the financial distinction and implications of this but given everything shouldn't this be a justification to just use the extras on a purely cost basis?
Solarpunk technology
Technology for a Solar-Punk future.
Airships and hydroponic farms...
Unfortunately the Big Beautiful Bill gutted the US utility scale Solar industry, and while it makes up a relatively small percentage of total solar installations, I do wonder if it has had follow-on effects.
The US is hitting an energy crisis, electricity rates are skyrocketing, any failure to build out any source of power seems perverse.
It's clearly an overcapacity issue.
I'm actually also confused how the difference does not depend on the perspective. If we say supply is too high, then it is overcapacity. If we say demand is too low, it is underutilization. For a profit-driven company, it is overcapacity, I understand that. But Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world has a point, when we look at it from the perspective of the rest of us...
And I guess you would address overcapacity and underutilization differently. Overcapacity -> reduce production. Underutilization -> increase consumption (“installation” in this case sounds more fitting). To say that it is clearly an overcapacity issue sounds to me as if there is no way we could install more solar panels.
Yeah, I don't care that it has become less profitable for the producers. Given the demand for energy right now and how little is being actively done to make solar more ubiquitous ESPECIALLY in low-income areas, I want the bottom to fall out. Make it too cheap to justify anything else being used during daylight hours.
The arguments in favor of keeping fossil fuels have always been based on cost and up-time. If you can't argue on cost then you can only justify keeping them available when you don't have sun.
The problem is you're never going to get the shareholder class to agree to distribute the power system to that point. They'll fight as hard as they can to keep everyone buying from their centralized network.
The next boogeyman we're going to be have driven upon us is going to be rooftop solar being "dangerous".
Fortunately, the "balcony solar" concept seems to be gaining interest even in the US
This makes no economic sense.