this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 1 week ago

If you want solar, you need three-season heavy industry.

At these latitudes, a solar panel produces about 1/3 the power in winter as it does in summer. 15 hours/day of high angle summer sunlight turn into 9 hours/day of low-angle winter sunlight. Storage cannot feasibly match seasonal demand. To get enough power from winter solar, you need to install at least three times as many panels as you would need in summer. If you actually install that much generation capacity, the excess summer power drives electric rates negative and burns any profits.

If you want solar at high latitudes, you need to soak up that that excess power you have in spring, summer, autumn. You need massive demand added to the grid during these three seasons, and then taken offline for winter.

Come up with that seasonal demand, and the math favors solar.