I guess if the stores only ever use the same amount of energy that they feed to the system, then they can say they are 100% self sufficient in electric. Of course after dark they need a different source, but if they’d already fed that extra night time requirement into the system during daylight hours, then does the self sufficiency determination still apply?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Another big thing here - do these solar farms already exist or are they already planned? Does The Warehouse claiming to use solar actually increase the amount of solar in the grid, or is it just greenwashing?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Oh it's totally green washing.

But, there might be some actual extra solar generation being funded, but that'll be a happy coincidence.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

They wouldn't be considered entirely solar powered unless they also had some mechanism to store that energy during the day, and release it into the grid at the same rate the customer is using it.

But, that's why we have a diverse range of energy sources in NZ.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Except the grid can't store energy like that - if you generate twice the energy you consume, then someone else uses that energy and the base load generators slow down ever so slightly to accommodate. When it's dark and you need that energy back, something else has to generate the power for you.

Net metering is a book keeping device, not actually how power generation works.