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pj_mukh • yesterday at 9:32 PM • 4 replies • view on HN

Along those lines just a reminder folks, China is installing about 1GW equivalent of Solar power per day [1]. Lot of Australians can simply stop paying for power now due to free power on offer and batteries [2]. These are not zero-regulation, socialist wastelands.

All this whinging about "is this project using too much power or not" is pointless scarcity that we've chosen to partake in. If we are to create and spend political capital via hyper-focussing on a single issue, perhaps we should use it to fix this instead?

[1]: https://reneweconomy.com.au/just-staggering-china-installs-1...

[2]:https://www.energy.gov.au/rebates/solar-sharer-offer


Replies

WatchDog • yesterday at 11:22 PM

> Lot of Australians can simply stop paying for power now due to free power on offer and batteries

This is overstating things.

Even if you only draw power during these three hours of the day, you still need to pay a daily supply charge, which makes up about 30%(and growing) of the average household electricity bill.

You would need about a 15 kWh battery to cover your household usage outside of these three hours.

A 13.5kWh Tesla battery system will cost about $15k installed, the taxpayer will cover about 30% of the battery cost(exc installation), which brings it down closer to $11k.

If you live an an owner occupied detached house(about 50% of Australian households), and you can afford a ~$11,000 for a battery, then you can probably pay off the battery within about 10 years.

wredcoll • yesterday at 10:04 PM

Hmmm, which political party is famously against solar and renewables in general?

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FridayoLeary • yesterday at 10:36 PM

China are also building tons of coal plants.

stogot • yesterday at 9:33 PM

What about water usage?

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