The transition

[RunForTheHills]

In fact, if you do that everywhere you can generate between 20 and 25 percent of the Untied States electricity needs.

That is never going to happen. I am not saying that parking lot solar doesn't exist, but they won't be as pervasive as you envision.

 

[RunForTheHills]

Oh, and I live in a snowy environment and snow falls off of a properly angled solar panel just peachy. It works even better if you angle it steeper for the winter months (as you should because the sun is lower in the sky in the winter).

Perhaps you get snow, but you don't live in the mountains with tall old growth pine trees and mountain ridges. Literally no one in my community has solar panels on their roof.

 

[Chargeride]

An 800mw solar farm is being built in the UK, the website announces 120 thousand homes.
Its nonsense.
Its the plate rating, the actual dreadful reality is 15% generation factor further complicated by grid realities.

Those 'homes' are modelling ideals with impracticale heat management.

800mx is actually a 100 mw, which is about a 120 trucks worth of power over the year.
What am I supossed to do with reality

 

[RunForTheHills]

I can buy this on alibaba, I can't buy an SMR online anywhere. Just saying:

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Solar Carports & Canopies: A Practical Solution

Solar carports and canopies turn parking areas into power generators. Independent Power designs and installs commercial solar structures.

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Those canopies would collapse under the snow load in a bad year where I live. Not that you could get a building permit to put it up in the first place. "structures must be engineered for snow loads that can exceed 150 pounds per square foot"

 

[mschwett]

That is all pie in the sky....

such nonsense. it has literally been working on the ground in hundreds of places over the planet for decades now, and has accelerated sharply. california - the fourth largest economy in the world, GDP per capita over 100k, routinely produces more than half it's electricity from solar and of that, about HALF is from non-utility installations like residential roofs, commercial buildings, parking garages, and so on. 43 megawatts of total capacity, 20ish in a million (literally) small installations.

i believe texas is doing even better, but not sure what the breakdown is.

california also has mountains (highest in the CONUS), wintery regions, deserts, cities with lots of AC, and lots and lots and lots of EVs.

 

[mschwett]

Those canopies would collapse under the snow load in a bad year where I live. Not that you could get a building permit to put it up in the first place. "structures must be engineered for snow loads that can exceed 150 pounds per square foot"

of course a structure needs to be designed for the site. go to switzerland, which is certainly a snowy, alpine place, where new roofs are required to have solar, usage is expanding rapidly (as it is basically everywhere), and no roofs or canopies are collapsing.

 

[RunForTheHills]

california also has mountains (highest in the CONUS), wintery regions, deserts, cities with lots of AC, and lots and lots and lots of EVs.

I live in the California mountains. No rooftop solar in my neighborhood, no AC, and the only EVs are people vacationing from down the hill. Over 7000 foot elevation. Some years we don't get much snow. Some years there are ten foot berms. At our elevation, the snow doesn't melt between storms. Sure, the desert and cities are totally different.

 

[RunForTheHills]

of course a structure needs to be designed for the site. go to switzerland, which is certainly a snowy, alpine place, where new roofs are required to have solar, usage is expanding rapidly (as it is basically everywhere), and no roofs or canopies are collapsing.

I've seen the roofs collapse on several homes in my community. Both Goodwin's Market and Jensen's had their roofs collapse three years ago during Snowmageddon. A couple of decades ago, we lost the public skating rink in Lake Arrowhead that my daughter skated at when their roof collapsed during a big snow. I thought you were an architect.

 

[PedalUma]

There is land where nothing else can go such as old landfills. Old landfills dot the entire continent per 100.000 people. You can't build on it or grow crops. It is a natural for solar. Existing landfills have acreage that is already full with a smaller percentage that can still be worked. That unusable land can have solar. I get it about mountain shadows. Legacy landfills are always on the flatlands. The smoke is finally beginning to clear from a wildfire to the northwest. Record fires are still raging in Spain and France.

 

[RunForTheHills]

If you read my original statement, I said both solar and SMR projects are getting built. Solar and wind don't work everywhere and for every purpose, even with batteries.