I'm sitting at home here looking at my electric bill. My bill says that electricity costs 21¢ per KWH. But that's not true.
The price of electricity is highly variable. For me, electricity costs AVERAGE to 21¢ per KWH. The reality is that some of the electricity is perhaps 5¢ per KWH, and other electricity is $1.23 per KWH, and the nice people at the electric company average it all out for me to 21¢ per KWH.
Is my electricity cost really all that variable? Yes. Some power plants are super-cheap to own and fuel. Those plants are used as much as possible, and their electricity is very cheap. That's like hydro, wind, solar, and nuclear.
Other plants, like Oil and old Gas burners, are very expensive to operate. They only run when there isn't enough of the efficient plants available to service the demand. The expensive-to-operate facilities might only run for 80 hours a year, but at a whopping $1.23 per KWH. And since it costs several billion dollars to build any new large electricity plant, replacing infrequently used facilities is not a priority. That'd be like replacing your 23 year old gas guzzler truck that you drive 1000 miles a year with a new hyper-efficient truck that you'll drive 1000 miles per year. Not a economically (or ecologically) smart way to go.
The beauty of rooftop solar is that it provides significant power during the day, shaving off the daytime peaks when electricity is stupidly expensive. Daytime solar power generation greatly reduces peaks, which in turn lessens the need to run the expensive, inefficient power plants.
The price of electricity is highly variable. For me, electricity costs AVERAGE to 21¢ per KWH. The reality is that some of the electricity is perhaps 5¢ per KWH, and other electricity is $1.23 per KWH, and the nice people at the electric company average it all out for me to 21¢ per KWH.
Is my electricity cost really all that variable? Yes. Some power plants are super-cheap to own and fuel. Those plants are used as much as possible, and their electricity is very cheap. That's like hydro, wind, solar, and nuclear.
Other plants, like Oil and old Gas burners, are very expensive to operate. They only run when there isn't enough of the efficient plants available to service the demand. The expensive-to-operate facilities might only run for 80 hours a year, but at a whopping $1.23 per KWH. And since it costs several billion dollars to build any new large electricity plant, replacing infrequently used facilities is not a priority. That'd be like replacing your 23 year old gas guzzler truck that you drive 1000 miles a year with a new hyper-efficient truck that you'll drive 1000 miles per year. Not a economically (or ecologically) smart way to go.
The beauty of rooftop solar is that it provides significant power during the day, shaving off the daytime peaks when electricity is stupidly expensive. Daytime solar power generation greatly reduces peaks, which in turn lessens the need to run the expensive, inefficient power plants.