Comment by xrd
15 hours ago
Funny, I was going to ask "is it as simple as going off the grid"?
It makes the Biden and Obama solar subsidies look very different. Indirectly they were protecting us from private profiteering utilities?
15 hours ago
Funny, I was going to ask "is it as simple as going off the grid"?
It makes the Biden and Obama solar subsidies look very different. Indirectly they were protecting us from private profiteering utilities?
In the short term, no, they were a jobs, climate mitigation, and wholesale energy cost story. On the longer story arc, yes. Renewables and batteries are currently driving down wholesale power rates, and as their prices continue to fall, retail consumers will be able to buy them at scale, and if necessary, go off grid and be self sufficient.
Similarly, jurisdictions can move towards a self owned coop model. Ann Arbor, Michigan is in the process of this as an example. Local governments and electric coops can go to the capital markets for funding via bond issues, at more favorable terms than investor owned utilities (muni bonds, in may circumstances, have tax advantages for investors). Cutting out the profit and equity return are resources that can be used for grid investments or reductions in cost to coop members. They usually already own their water and sewer systems, so this is not new territory, simply a different utility system.
"Your margin is my opportunity."
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/0...
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2026/09/what-would-publ...
https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/solar-panel-prices-...
https://ourworldindata.org/battery-price-decline
https://www.energy.gov/cmei/systems/sunshot-2030