Californians opting out of the grid

[ergophobe]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/13/business/energy-environment/california-off-grid.html

Makes sense. The big advantage of the grid is supposed to be that it's reliable. That is not our experience in rural CA.

Then there's the simple fact that if you have a larger rural lot running electric can be $100,000 (article says up to $78,000 per hundred feet and lots of parcels require more than 100 feet of line). That much money buys you a large system with lots of panels, batteries and an emergency generator.

All this has me wondering... if grid reliability continues to drop and solar/battery costs come down, it makes no sense to run electric to new homes. Then in the next phase, it makes sense to retrofit old homes. All of that drives a death spiral for the rural grid. And all of that reminds me of the landline situation. As more and more people opt out entirely, it gets harder and harder to maintain the phone grid. We see that manifest in a phone system that is increasingly unreliable.

Some energy experts worry that people who are going off the grid could unwittingly hurt efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That is because the excess electricity that rooftop solar panels produce will no longer reach the grid, where it can replace power from coal or natural gas plants. "We don't need everybody to cut the cord and go it alone," said Mark Dyson, senior principal with the carbon-free electricity unit of RMI.

The Cancinos went off the grid because hooking up to PG&E would have cost more than the $50,000 they spent on solar panels, batteries and generators.

Off-grid systems are particularly attractive to people building new homes. That's because installing a 125- to 300-foot overhead power line to a new home costs about $20,000, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. In places where lines have to be buried, installation runs about $78,000 for 100 feet.

That's why Wim Coekaerts went off the grid in his 2,800-square-foot home in Woodside, near Stanford University.

His plot sits just across the street from homes that are connected to PG&E. But the utility told him it would cost $100,000 for new electric service, and building a trench for the line, based on regulatory estimates, could add $300,000 or more. So he spent $300,000 after federal tax credits on solar panels and a large battery.

He has never had to ration his use of appliances and has had no problems charging two Teslas. He has been producing so much electricity that he started mining Bitcoin.