393. Solar in Every Town - Solar for everyone, the solution to an affordable, net-zero grid

Gary Holden says the secret to building a 100% renewable electricity grid is to build solar in every town, combine it with energy storage and let consumers buy the energy as a virtual power plant for their homes.
The idea reduces grid upgrade costs, produces the cheapest energy and allows everyone to have solar, even folks who have trees, roofs not suitable for solar and especially those who can't afford to buy their own solar.
We caught up with Gary Holden at the Decentralised Energy Forum in Whistlers B.C. where he was presenting his ideas to the decentralized energy industry. Holden is the managing director of Lodestone Energy in New Zealand where by adopting this approach their goal is to install 1 megawatt of solar per day. Holden is the former CEO of Pulse Energy and TransAlta in New Zealand and also the former CEO of ENMAX, based in Calgary, Alberta in Canada.
#solar #virtual #electricity #energy #energystorage #climateaction #climatechange #netzeroenergy
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[KJSvitko]

New homes should come with solar panels, a rain water collection system and an electric vehicle charger in the garage.

[jjamespacbell]

Cover the parking lots, industrial and commercial roofs with solar panels, only cover fields if it benefits the crops, what is also needed is battery storage, pumped hydro, and suitable long distance transmission lines.

[aaronvallejo]

Solar in every town, wind farm outside every town and city, grid batteries too...why not 12 hour warm basement floors in super highly insulated electric homes.