Let's assume for the moment you are right KJ and it is more economical to have rural america go off grid. The grid is already there and these people are already used to grid power. Are you suggesting we dump 60 million rural Americans from the grid? I think you will piss off alot of people going that route. It does not seem politically feasible to me.
Microgrids seem to be growing in popularity though. In advanced countries like the US these grids are still connected to the main grid, but it also has community Solar PV, batteries, and/or a generator. The microgrid can also island itself in the event of the main grid failure. So the microgrids are a step forward in both reliability and sustainability.
The research firm GTM counts “1,900 basic and advanced, operational and planned microgrids” in the US, with the market expected to
grow quickly. Most microgrids today are basic, one-generator affairs, but more complex microgrids are popping up all over — there’s a cool one in Brooklyn, a cool one on Alcatraz Island, and the coolest one of all in Sonoma, California. Microgrids also play a big role in plans to rebuild Puerto Rico’s grid.
Grid-connected microgrids can “island” from the larger gridMost microgrids, especially in wealthier nations, are grid-connected — they are embedded inside a bigger grid, like any other utility customer. All the examples cited above fit this bill.
What makes a microgrid a microgrid is that it can flip a switch (or switches) and “island” itself from its parent grid in the event of a blackout. This enables it to provide those connected to it with (at least temporary) backup power.
Meet the microgrid, the technology poised to transform electricityAlso, don't power companies charge higher rates to dispersed farms to compensate for the higher transmission charges? I think they also try to get them into demand response programs: "You scratch my back by dialing back your needs during peak demand and I'll give you a lower rate."
Farmers make up a significant share of industrial electricity customers in certain states. This is because of demand from farm irrigation systems, which are categorized by electric utilities as industrial load. For example, Nebraska is largely rural and agricultural, but it has the third-highest count of industrial electricity customers in the United States. The same factor drives up the number of industrial electricity customers in Idaho and Kansas, which are also among the top 10 states in number of industrial electricity customers. States with a large agriculture industry also tend to have among the lowest industrial sales of electricity per industrial customer.
Irrigation load from farm irrigation systems can be costly to serve, because of the high cost of connecting these dispersed systems to the electric grid and the high cost of having enough capacity available to meet seasonal irrigation load. Dawson Public Power District, a rural electric cooperative in an agriculture-heavy region of Nebraska, accounted for less than 3% of statewide industrial electricity sales in 2012 but had one of the highest average prices for industrial power. In general, the highest industrial electricity prices in Nebraska tend to be located in the rural southern and western portions of the state.
Many agricultural-heavy electric utilities use demand-response programs to manage the costs of connecting a large number of small users to the grid. Nebraska's Dawson Public Power offers lower rates for agricultural customers who allow the utility to control the electric usage of these systems when demand for electricity is high, a form of demand response. This allows the grid operator to adjust the load shape in a given day and reduce the need to bring on more expensive sources of electricity generation.
Many industrial electricity customers are farmersIt doesn't seem likely to me to see an advanced country go through any large transition to off grid, even if we are only talking about rural users. India though is adding alot of off grid capacity. 90 GW of of grid power are expected to go up in India by 2040. To put that in perspective though, 900 GW of total capacity is expected to be added. In other words, 90% of new electricity connections in India are expected to be grid tied, 10% off grid.
India’s path to power
India’s power system needs to almost quadruple in size by 2040 to catch up and keep pace with electricity demand that – boosted by rising incomes and new connections to the grid – increases at almost 5% per year. The power system has grown rapidly in recent years. Taking population growth into account as well as the high policy priority to achieve universal electricity access, India adds nearly 600 million new electricity consumers over the period to 2040. The vast majority of Indians continue to receive their power via the grid.
Keeping pace with the demand for electricity requires nearly 900 GW of new capacity, the addition of a power system four-fifths the size of that of the United States today. Uncertainty over the pace at which new large dams or nuclear plants can be built means strong reliance on solar and wind power (areas where India has high potential and equally high ambition) to deliver on the pledge to build up a 40% share of non-fossil fuel capacity in the power sector by 2030. Some 340 GW of new wind and solar projects, as well as manufacturing and installation capabilities, are galvanised to 2040 by strong policy support and declining costs, although the pace of deployment is slowed by anticipated issues with networks, land use and financing. Decentralised rooftop solar and off-grid projects account for around 90 GW of this total, but the bulk of the additions is utilityscale. Balancing a power system in which variable renewables meet one-fifth of power demand growth requires flexibility from other sources (a role largely filled by gas-fired plants in our projections) and a much more resilient grid.
India Energy Outlook
The oil barrel is half-full.