Give 660 million people people solar panels and batteries, argues Auke Hoekstra

“The new energy system offers an unprecedented chance to lift 660 million people out of energy poverty by giving them cheaper and ubiquitously available energy. Let’s make it happen.”

https://aukehoekstra.substack.com/p/solving-extreme-poverty-with-solar

#Climate #Energy #Solar #Batteries #Renewables #Africa #Poverty #Development

Does anybody have any recommendations for books geared toward introducing solar power to people that don't know rip about it (like me) and that also have practical, usable information?

Thanks! 🙂

#solar
#SolarPower

Auf unserer Seite https://balkon.solar/rechtaufsolar haben wir alle Informationen und Mustertexte zur Umsetzung deines #RechtaufSolar gebündelt!

#BalkonSolar #Solar #Steckersolar

Updated my #solar generation/consumption graphs to include how much of my generated energy I actually consume and how much it's saved me.

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A graph showing the electricity imported, generated, exported and consumed in a day for my house.

We installed our #solar panels around August of last year and it’s going well. We’re using zero kWh/month and have about 900 kWh banked with FPL. It’s very cool to know that the a/c and my pottery kiln are running on solar power.

If you’re thinking about it, especially if you’re in the Sunshine State, I highly recommend going solar 🌞 The panels can also act as shields for your roof during storms. #Florida

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A photo of our roof showing one solar panel attached to our metal roof, with a tree and blue sky in the background.

Anyone have recommendations for a small #solar setup? I'd like: regulated 5V 2A, doesn't have to be USB, but USB-C / PD would be a bonus. ~50Wh of battery, and something like 20-40W solar panel, less than 1m in length. If a folding panel, works ok if the panels don't all see the same amount of light. Must be able to charge battery and deliver power at same time. The more water resistant the better. Cheap is good. I'm trying to avoid buying something massively overkill.

So semi-successful test of switching our #solar / battery system off-grid this morning.

On the positive side it happily switched over and we ran with the grid disconnected for 5 minutes or so.

On the negative side, the system seemed to stop generating from the solar while off-grid (which isn't optimal).

Hey-ho, ticket already opened with supplier and manufacturer 🤨

New #blog post: Looking at performance over the third year of our #solar install

We've now had solar for 3 years, this short post takes a quick look at the system's performance over the past 12 months.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/third-year-of-solar.html

#electricity

This week's comic: The dangers of solar panels

#solar #energy #SolarPower

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The dangers of solar panels Conspiracy theories are stopping construction of solar farms (ProPublica 4/24/26) Conspiracy theorist wearing t-shirt reading Drill baby drill: Noise! Pollution! Electromagnetic energy! Here are some actual health concerns of solar power: Shock from lower energy bills Fainting man opening bill: I can’t believe it’s reasonable! Lightheadedness from all that sweet clean air Man sniffing: Sniff! Psychological disorientation from sudden energy independence Woman on psychiatrist’s couch: Humanity may have a future? I am lost.

New #blog post: Changing The Way I Track Solar Value

We originally invested in a #solar install in the hope that it'd reduce our energy bills.

Over the last few years I've tracked savings by using the real-time cost of our current #electricity tariff.

The problem is, we *wouldn't* be on that tariff if we didn't have a battery, so isn't a great expression of the savings we're deriving.

I've switched to using the average prices of a Fixed price tariff instead.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/changing-the-way-i-track-solar-breakeven.html

Much nerd excitement, this is day 7 of not importing any electricity from the grid.

100% our own solar generated power (including storing and using from the battery)

This includes multiple clothes washes, multiple dishwasher runs, cooking, and all our hot water (heat pump) for a family of 5.

I wonder how long we'll be able to keep this going?

#solar

Ah that point when a toot gets enough traction that people start replying to it, and then my notifications go even more bonkers.

I do love all the #Solar nerds here on fedi!

#SolarPunk

Trump’s war on Iran is driving up bills again.

But governments don’t have to choose between war profits and people’s lives.

Here are 4 ways to protect households and speed up a just transition

https://act.gp/3QKVdFL
#oil #gas #war #solar #renewables #rent #transport #food

we can have a better world

we literally just have to TRY

#climatechange #solar #rewilding

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A solar farm in Minnesota planted native wildflowers between its panel rows. Five years later, total insect populations tripled. Native bees increased 20-fold. Not only did insect populations boom, soybean fields next to the solar arrays got twice as many bee visits as fields farther away. Two of the things we usually think of as competing turned out to reinforce each other. One study, published in Environmental Research Letters in late 2024, tracked two utility-scale solar sites built on retired farmland in southern Minnesota, where the developer seeded native prairie species between rows of panels in 2018. By 2022, the sites looked less like industrial energy infrastructure and more like remnant prairie. Goldenrod soldier beetles colonized the goldenrod stands. Bumblebees nested in the soil. Monarch butterflies passed through during migration. The wildflower diversity grew sevenfold; insect diversity grew eightfold. This matters because, like it or not, utility-scale solar is going to take up real space. The US is on track to cover roughly six million acres in panels by 2050. The default approach is turfgrass, gravel, or herbicide-maintained bare ground, which is ecologically dead. The Argonne study shows the alternative isn't more expensive or harder to maintain. It's just a different seed mix.

Dear #lazyWeb, what's the most cost effective way to buy batteries for my #solar panels? Ideally I'd like to be able to take them with me easily if I move house.

Aleppo, Syria. #Solar #solarpunk
Got this sent to me

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Eine Luftaufnahme eines dichten Stadtgebiets mit zahlreichen Gebäuden mit Sonnenkollektoren auf den Dächern. Die Straßen sind sichtbar, mit Fahrzeugen gefüllt, und zwischen den Gebäuden ist Grün zu sehen. Der Ort ist als Aleppo gekennzeichnet.

"In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month.

“Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.”

The shift has been dramatic. Before the solar project launched in 2022, the village of about 130 people had no restaurant, no easy way to move around, and little communal infrastructure. Now solar revenue pays for meals, a village “happiness bus” for elderly people, a table-tennis facility and cultural activities.

The village deliberately chose to spend solar income on welfare rather than individual dividends, a decision Jeon says residents made themselves rather than being persuaded."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/16/south-korea-solar-power-renewables-revolution

#SouthKorea #SolarEnergy #Renewables #Solar #SolarPower

When I tell people what we paid for electricity over the last year (about £1500) they’re astounded how cheap our heat pump is to run. Then I point out that includes driving around 10,000 miles and all our cooking.

I was able to say this to a guy who popped round for some free concrete blocks and asked about the heat pump. Fair to say he was aghast…. Given what he’d just been quoted for a tank of heating oil. #heatpump #oilprice #domesticenergy #solar

yesterday i collaborated with @saltphoenix 's teen to get the solar working in his cabin after it had been on the fritz for a long time.

the solar in their main house is working (which is good - i'm all about redundant systems), but the power on the cabin was messed up.

the problem was in the connectors. they had not been set up properly. one of the connectors blew a few days prior and the system stopped working entirely. (see image 2 below)

i had a bag of solar connectors in my shed (see image 4 below), but not the crimper and tightener tool (i have now ordered this kit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CKTFRSZ4 ). for the job yesterday, i borrowed the tools from my bf, who also generously showed me how to create connectors using the tools, and was available over the phone to help us troubleshoot.

so the teen and i replaced the blown connector (which was located by @saltphoenix ), but we were still getting nothing off the panels.

so then i went up on the roof and discovered that 1 connector was straight up disconnected because it was trying to connect 2 different types - one side had the kind that snap together (like image 1 below), and the other side was a twist kind. so it just came apart. 🫠 (see image 3 below)

i also noticed that several of the other connectors were mixed and matched like that, and some of them had been incorrectly made (they weren't screwed down fully)...plus the wacky connectors were hot, which is a bad sign. so i replaced all the ones that were mismatched and hot and incorrectly made, and made sure everything was tight and snug. but we still got nothing coming off the panels. i was very sad then.

then we kept testing various connections by putting the multimeter inside the connectors. it turns out i had made 2 of them incorrectly, so they weren't working. so after re-making THOSE, we plugged everything back in, and holy moly, we had power.

anyway, i know that for folks who understand more about solar and who have worked with these systems, this might not seem like a big victory, but there was no one else who was coming to the jungle to help get this kid's power back online, and i'm happy that we were able to combine a lot of teamwork to make it happen. today is a sunny day, so i'll check later to see if the batteries get charged. fingers crossed.

2 noobs - one young and one middle-aged - worked together with borrowed tools, fueled by the delicious farm food made by @saltphoenix (some of which will go to the person who lent the tools but who couldn't be there in person to do the fix). ducks were splashing and quacking around us, mosquitoes were in our faces, the cables got covered in mud, i had to scramble up a ladder while the teen spotted me, we had to consult the internet a couple times, the multimeter played a key role, and we ultimately got a system working again - a system that none of us had set up.

so there's my solarpunk story, and i thank the sun for letting us use some of its power for our lights and computers and other stuff 🌞 ⚡ ❤️

#solarpunk #JungleLife #offgrid #solar

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male and female solar panel connectors

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the blown connector

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the connector on the roof that had disconnected. note that it has a crack in it, and the left and right side are 2 different kinds

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my bag of spare connectors

The U.S. and Israel's war on Iran has left developing countries using Chinese tech and trade, like solar panels and EVs, better able to weather fallout than those relying on American-backed supply chains. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/04/08/world/trump-lost-asia-to-china/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #donaldtrump #china #supplychains #iran #us #israel #trade #evs #solar #cleanenergy

The UK avoided the need for gas imports worth £1bn in March 2026 thanks to record electricity generation from wind and solar.

Wind generation hit a new record for the month of March on the island of Great Britain, up 38% year-on-year, while solar nearly matched the output of last year’s exceptionally sunny spring.

Reform UK is so out of touch.

#Wind #Solar #EnergyCrisis

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-record-wind-and-solar-saved-uk-from-gas-imports-worth-1bn-in-march-2026/

New #blog post: Adding A Balcony #Solar Install to our garage

We've had solar for nearly 3 years now, but our easterly exposure has been niggling at me: output starts waning around lunch so the afternoon feels wasted (particularly after a cloudy morning)

So, I've added some west facing panels to the garage using a plug-in solar kit

This post talks about the install, setting up monitoring with #telegraf as well as results in the week since

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/adding-plugin-solar-to-our-capacity.html

Brilliant news! The UK's Labour Government are going to make "plug in solar" legal.

Grab some panels from Lidl, hang them off your balcony or out your window, plug them in to your mains. Done!

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-go-further-and-faster-in-becoming-energy-secure

#Solar