[opo]

>>…Also, I heartily disagree that utility scale solar is obviously cheaper. Transmission and distribution costs are the biggest cost on the grid, and utility scale solar needs to pay for that whereas residential solar drives down T&D costs.

From the 2024 numbers the LCOE for utility solar was $29 - $92 and the consumer rooftop solar LCOE was estimated to be $122 to $284. Depending on the projects, utility solar was estimated to usually be somewhere around 3-10 time cheaper than rooftop solar. If the transmission and distribution costs could bring the low cost of utility solar anywhere near the very high cost of consumer rooftop solar, that would be very concerning as that $122 - $284 cost estimate also doesn’t cover any of the costs of firming intermittency. I have never heard anyone else implying the costs of distributing the electricity from new utility solar projects could increase the cost that much. The money that has gone to pay for net metering to subsidize those very high consumer rooftop costs should have gone to utility solar and grid storage projects - the goal is to decarbonize the grid and the money should be spent where it will do the most good.