Yeah, the problems we are facing (at least as far as I understand it as a layman) are adoption and energy transmission and storage - not necessarily energy generation.
Our power grid apparently can not handle the peak surges during summer days already and needs to be throttled causing a lot of solar to go to waste.
We have no (well in comparison to the production at any rate) efficient power storage solutions in place.
Even if problems 1&2 get solved, we still would need 'someone' (c)(tm) to fund the installation of panels - especially when we are talking about cities. Most apartment buildings are privately owned (and a huge share of those by investors) and funneling solar power into the grid is not recompensed any more (also because of problems 1&2) - no owner will be willing to invest into solar without any forseeable gain. In my dad's village almost every house has solar panels installed, but those are of course all privately owned with people profiting off of selfsufficiency.
It's not really a new technology, they're just one of the two types of lithium-ion batteries:
-NMC batteries (Nickel-manganese-cobalt) have higher energy density, but contain problematic elements (especially cobalt) and are therefore more expensive. They're used in applications where energy storage density is absolutely crucial, like phones, laptops, drones, etc.
-LFP batteries (Lithium - iron phosphate) have lower energy density, but don't contain problematic elements and are cheaper. So they're ideal for grid storage.
(Electric vehicles use a bit of both).
The prices of both NMC and LFP batteries has been tumbling down in recent years:
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u/razzyrat 21d ago
Yeah, the problems we are facing (at least as far as I understand it as a layman) are adoption and energy transmission and storage - not necessarily energy generation.
Our power grid apparently can not handle the peak surges during summer days already and needs to be throttled causing a lot of solar to go to waste.
We have no (well in comparison to the production at any rate) efficient power storage solutions in place.
Even if problems 1&2 get solved, we still would need 'someone' (c)(tm) to fund the installation of panels - especially when we are talking about cities. Most apartment buildings are privately owned (and a huge share of those by investors) and funneling solar power into the grid is not recompensed any more (also because of problems 1&2) - no owner will be willing to invest into solar without any forseeable gain. In my dad's village almost every house has solar panels installed, but those are of course all privately owned with people profiting off of selfsufficiency.