Solar is a great source of energy during a sunny day. There is a small problem storing it for evening and night time use. There are reasonable batteries that can be used. The problem is energy storage for long periods. This is especially true for long Winter months. The size and cost of batteries needed for large long term storage is prohibitive.
Here in Southern California, most of our houses have a small natural gas heater. Typically 80000 BTU/hr input yields 64000 BTU/hr delivered to heat a house with four bedrooms. The total amount of gas needed is dependent on temperature outside, desired inside temperature and the amount of insulation between the outside and the inside.
Trying to heat a house with electricity can be very expensive, so gas is preferred. The additional cost of light needed during long winter months is also an additional cost to the power needed to cook and clean. The attempt to build a state-wide system to store enough day-time solar in batteries to last through long winter months is insane. i.e. outrageously expensive.
It would cost a lot less to have residential homes with solar to have a central heater include a small gas powered generator to provide DC power to the solar inverter during the evening and during dark winter days. In other words, when it is cold and dark outside, more electric power is needed inside. Natural gas is a very efficient way to store energy. Propane is another efficient way to store energy. Either one can be used to generate power during long winter months. Much more efficient then a very, very expensive huge battery array. We do not need a large increase in California taxes to subsidize billion dollar battery storage for long winter months.
I have an inverter with a maximum output of 3.6 kW which was sufficient until my son bought a plug in electric vehicle. So I am again buying energy from SDG&E. At least I am in the bottom tier. We get no EV rebate because he is not the home owner.
It is worth noting that 1 kWhr is about 3412.14 BTUs. 1 Hp is about 0.7457 kW
What I am trying to say is that 3 kW DC generator with a 90% efficiency, and running at full load, would require about 10707 BTU/hr of energy. [almost 4.5 hp] That energy could be provided by a small natural gas powered engine. Since the efficiency of the engine would be about 20%, it would require an input of about 53535 BTUs/hr of natural gas. Most of the exhaust heat [42828 BTU/hr] would then be used to heat the house during the cold Fall and Winter months. [heat is not needed during Spring and Summer.] Most of the heat energy will not be converted to electric energy and would then be used to heat the house and not just dumped it into our atmosphere. The object, of course, is to not waste energy. The biggest problem is making an engine quiet enough to run inside a house where the furnace is now. If you on SDG&E's tiered energy system, the best time to run the engine is after 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. or until the house is reasonably warm.
This is my opinion from the literature I have read and personal experiance.
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