It doesn't have to be cheaper than utility-scale. It only has to be cheaper than retail electricity.

In other words, it can be useful even if it's not the most efficient way to do it. It only has to be more efficient than the status quo.

I don't have thd capital to build utility-scale solar. I do have the capital to install residential solar. My electricity is now cheaper.

There are advantages to distributed infrastructure as well! You mentioned one of the biggest disadvantages.

I am thinking along the line of:

  - You can just do it / upgrade it etc
  - Robust against central failures for various reasons
  - Resistant to those in charge of centralized infrastructure abusing their monopoly

Utility-scale solar might be cheaper but doesn't make my house resilient to grid failures. It also only benefits me when the grid is upgraded enough that ... well, it benefits me.

I'm sure it's cheaper to somebody. But with home solar, I can actually cut my power bill by a noticeable fraction.

It's not and it will NEVER be.

Utility companies are not incentivized to lower prices because it means less money for them. Do you remember when power companies told people to conserve power and then people successfully did this? And then they raised rates because they weren't making enough money? This happens in California ALL THE TIME. I've lived here 30 years in Silicon Valley and it's the biggest scam that no one talks about. It happens with electricity and water. With water its even more egregious because they told us to conserve water because of the "drought" but once the drought was over, they raised rates because people weren't using enough water. My connection fee to water is over $100/month without spending a drop of water. That's why I stopped conserving water and water my lawn every single day because it turns out that my water costs are only about 1/3 of the actual water bill costs so fuck it!

It's the same playbook over and over again, there's no incentive to lower rates at all because it's an easy way to make money over an entire population of tens of millions of people.

Now PG&E is fighting to charge solar panel owners $100+/month just for the privilege of being connected to the grid. That would make having solar panels even more expensive than not having solar panels which is utter hypocrisy but no one seems to care or point this out. It's a complete and utter scam.

EDIT: I forgot to mention last year the rates were $0.37-0.45 per kWh, until this year when they implemented a base fee of $25/month, so they lowered it to $0.33-0.45/kWh. Rates in Nevada are 1/4 of that.

2015: $0.17-0.33 per kWh

2020: $0.24-0.38 per kWh

so prices have more than doubled in 10 years. Fucking criminals.

Problem is for most of USA utility scale = utility profit for share holders.

For example Duke is for profit here in Florida, and charges about 25% more per KWH than OUC that is a public utility.

This leads to pricing where on one street your power bill is $250, but one street over its $200, often coming from the exact same power plant.

It is easier to find a million people with a few hundred euros and a sunny balcony than finding one dude with a few hundred million euros and land on which building a solar farm is permitted.

Last I checked the biggest cost in the electric bill is transmission, by a wide margin. Home generated power however small helps everyone.

Where I live we have Time of Day electricity pricing where the prices jump 2-3x during high demand. Panels conveniently produce the most power around this time, so this can save people money.

We should build now in anticipation of drone warfare. Utility-scale solar is easier to take out. Same as natural disasters.

The more stable you think the future will be, the more you want to capture the efficiency of central power.