▲ 211 ▼ TIL about micro-inverters which make it possible to track individual solar panels (en.wikipedia.org) submitted 3 weeks ago by jaykrown@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world 22 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 1 point 3 weeks ago (1 child) Why are power companies giving away free energy? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] Ghoelian@piefed.social 3 points 3 weeks ago* That's how supply and demand works. Energy suppliers have to buy their energy from the actual sources, of which there are a few here. They buy all the watts they think they'll need based on a weather forecast the day before. If this forecast was rainy but now turns out to be super sunny, meaning lots of solar which can support the grid, there may be massive excesses of energy that now no one wants to buy. But due to the way an electricity grid works, this electricity has to go somewhere, so they sell it at a loss. That's how it works in the Netherlands, anyway. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Ghoelian@piefed.social 3 points 3 weeks ago* That's how supply and demand works. Energy suppliers have to buy their energy from the actual sources, of which there are a few here. They buy all the watts they think they'll need based on a weather forecast the day before. If this forecast was rainy but now turns out to be super sunny, meaning lots of solar which can support the grid, there may be massive excesses of energy that now no one wants to buy. But due to the way an electricity grid works, this electricity has to go somewhere, so they sell it at a loss. That's how it works in the Netherlands, anyway. permalink fedilink source parent