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The Economics of Grid Defection

The Economics of Grid Defection

Full Title:  The Economics of Grid Defection
Author(s):  Peter Bronski, Jon Creyts, Leia Guccione, Maite Madrazo, James Mandel, Bodhi Rader, Dan Seif, Peter Lilienthal, John Glassmire, Jeffrey Abromowitz, Mark Crowdis, John Richardson, Evan Schmitt, and Helen Tocco
Publisher(s): The Rocky Mountain Institute
Publication Date: February 1, 2014
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

 

Distributed electricity generation, especially solar PV, is rapidly spreading and getting much cheaper. Distributed electricity storage is doing the same, thanks largely to mass production of batteries for electric vehicles. Solar power is already starting to erode some utilities’ sales and revenues.

But what happens when solar and batteries join forces? Together they can make the electric grid optional for many customers—without compromising reliability and increasingly at prices cheaper than utility retail electricity. Equipped with a solar-plus-battery system, customers can take or leave traditional utility service with what amounts to a “utility in a box.”

This “utility in a box” represents a fundamentally different challenge for utilities. Whereas other technologies, including solar PV and other distributed resources without storage, net metering, and energy efficiency still require some degree of grid dependence, solar-plus-batteries enable customers to cut the cord to their utility entirely.

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