We installed roof solar (10kW panels + 8kW hybrid inverter + 32kWh battery + planning/execution) last October for 11k euro. After all the math, our "investment" would pay off in approx 8-10 years (at current electricity prices). That's without an electric car, which we plan to buy sometime in the next two years.

All in all, pretty happy. Especially that we have frequent grid faults. Even my ISP has some beefy batteries for their equipment, so much so that one 14-hour grid blackout didn't affect us at all and we were able to use the internet since we're working from home (FTTH + ONT, GPON).

Usual disclaimer, sample size of one. We're in Romania.

I just upgraded the solar system at my family's off-grid cabin. It's incredible how much battery technology has improved over the last 10 years.

Everyone is getting tired of me checking the panel to see how many watts we're bringing in.

Next project, install a shunt and get a Raspberry Pi talking to it over USB. And then I'll be able to build a Grafana dashboard. :)

I know some people who are adamantly against solar and wind

(personally I like both but I can see some shortcomings - for example I have heard that ai datacenters are using gas at times because of its flexibility)

So what are some of the best talking points to "sell" solar and wind to the unconvinced?

Or will they just adopt it once it's seen everywhere?

This is exciting news but the term power here should really be replaced with electricity which is clarified early on in the article.

Electricity only accounts for roughly 20-25% of all power / energy used and the vast majority of the remaining 75% is fueled by gas (cars, ships, heating, construction, ect.)

Solar and progress on better batteries is a more consequential and useful technological revolution than AI. Should be a huge story, but there's not enough money to be made via speculation so it's not.

The percentage increases here don't really tell the full picture. Look at it in terms of pure TWh [1]. China just dwarfs any other country in terms of wind and solar deployment. I guess that's the difference between putting engineers in charge instead of those who believe in the magical powers of red heifers [2].

One of the short-term issues in the US is going to be that a lot of utilities depend on natural gas and natural gas prices are going to keep rising beyond whatever happens in the Persian Gulf because of increased LNG exports (that directly raises domestic prices) and the increased use of gas turbines for AI data centers. Plus all the consumers are going to pay for the infrastructure buildout for electricity for those data centers.

So, despite a large Y/Y solar increase in the US, electricity prices are only going up.

[1]: https://www.statista.com/chart/36117/electricity-generated-b...

[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48393661

Renewable energy offers a competitive advantage for any energy intensive activity --- like manufacturing or AI.

China gets it, the USA doesn't.

Also worth looking at recent Australia events, where evening peaking is incredibly severe. But batteries have been carrying the entire load!

Incredible gobsmacking amount of stored energy on display here. Great to see. https://bsky.app/profile/neilgrant.bsky.social/post/3mneo3to...

China having managed to position itself as the main driver of the green transition by investing into key industries illustrates the power of state planning. The markets simply can't operate on horizons of decades because there is no immediate profit to be had. You need long term planning and sustained investment that only a state is able to provide.

Interesting how sustainability is shifting from a regulatory topic to a competitive advantage for businesses.

Is it possible to increase the grid by add solar and wind and NOT adding an on-demand backup source (gas, etc.) WITHOUT ADDING RISK?

What I mean is say the grid demands 100. The grid is powered entirely by coal. You give it 120 for 20% redundancy. This is extremely reliable.

The grid demand is now 120. You now need 144 for 20% redundancy. You dont want to use coal. So you add solar and batteries.

Batteries are great because they normalize the volatility of solar generation over time, but they do not make solar truly on demand. So if you add 24 solar to the 120 coal you are increasing the risk on the grid. What often happens is you add 24 solar but you have 24 coal as a backup. Ideally the real-world use will be solar but in case of downtime your grid will not fail.

Progress! Build more, we need it..

More good news from Ember, according to their Global Electricity Review 2026 [1]:

Solar power increased by a record 636 TWh to reach 2,778 TWh in 2025, a 30% increase from 2024.

Wind saw the second-largest increase, growing 205 TWh (+8.2%)

Driven by record solar growth, low-carbon power generation increased by 887 TWh in 2025, outpacing electricity demand growth of 849 TWh. Solar power alone met 75% of the net increase in electricity demand. Together with wind, the two sources met almost all (99%) demand growth.

For the first time in 100 years, renewables (33.8%, 10,730 TWh) overtook coal power (33.0%, 10,476 TWh) in the global electricity mix as continued rapid growth in solar and wind pushed the share of renewables above a third of global generation. Coal power dropped 63 TWh (-0.6%) in 2025, marking the first fall since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Combined with continued electricity demand growth, this meant coal fell below a third of global generation for the first time in history.

For comparison, I have collated information from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Power Reactor Information System. The fastest that nuclear power generation ever grew was 213 TWh added in 1985. Since the year 2000, the fastest growth year was 2004, with 111 TWh added.

[1] https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/04/Global-Electric...

It's a good news but I didn't expect that coal is still on the 1st place and not really trending down. I though coal was largely replaced by gas years ago...

On the graph, you can clearly see the seasonal demand for power during the summer months as air conditioning kicks in. The electricity production for gas mimics this as well each year. But the solar output does not seem to have a spike each summer. Why is that? You would think that solar output would be significantly higher when the summer months are here.

*electricity . Gas is heavily used for heating , cooking & industrial uses (e.g. drying agriculture like hops, boilers etc).

I raise this point since policymakers get confused and try to ban gas, only to realize how critical gas is for food & industrial applications that consumers enjoy after the fact.

Meanwhile, just hours ago:

Trump Offers Funds for First New U.S. Coal Plants in 13 Years

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/climate/trump-coal-plants...

“Hold my [polluted] beer” - current US administration

I feel the energy conversation is dominated by people that don't realize how far Solar tech has come recently arguing with other people that don't realize short nuclear half lives have gotten recently.

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Waiting for this to get flagged because, once again, the US sucks.

A lot of us know why the US is behind in wind and solar. It's because of a five letter word that starts with "T".

Do better, America.

this is certainly true but sustainability and usability are two bifurcating routes. solar and wind is the energy system we need but oild and gas is what's affordable.

Finally some good news!

I am waiting for balcony solar to hit it off just like rooftop solar.. a few installers flat out refused to install on my balcony!

I want to feed the balcony solar o/p back to the grid and not have a off grid system

Meanwhile I bought a 25W solar panel and a controller and am going to make a solar charger to charge my powerbanks

Great news. Now let's surpass coal, the far more insidious and prevalent source!

meanwhile Trump administration just bypassed Congress (again) to give nearly a billion dollars to sustain COAL industry

the spite is the point

(do we survive past 2029? are you sure? I'm not)

https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/trump-to-invoke-...

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How is that working for German industry where you need dense energy if you are going to continue build anything big..