Storage of energy, ie batteries, are definitely where it's at.
The University of South Carolina is heavily invested-in and being funded-by the battery industry to do research into next generation batteries. Some of the new technology is amazing. Lithium has been around for awhile ... we were using lithium batteries in our PRC77s in the 70s. But how far they have come is just amazing.
And now they have all these hydrogen fuel cells coming along ...
But here's the thing Dixie Dude.
Electric companies will still own it all. They are already into wind and solar leasing ... plus, don't forget, they already own most of the hydro rights.
Don't believe for a minute that the utilities are going to sit idly by and die off anything in the near future. It'll be a long long long time before energy is ever controlled solely by the homeowner.
I'm saying this as someone who has $48k in top shelf panels, mounts and trackers on my roof, and another $21k in the field behind the house, right now and another $12k in batteries, inverters and related wiring in a separate building off the house.
Sometimes it's still not enough to run the HVAC during long hot humid spells here in the summertime.
It'll be another century before they get it all worked-out enough to make it affordable to the average homeowner.
In the meantime I predict there will be a cottage industry boom for homemade solar panels from kits that will make it more affordable, and reliable, to some.
So for $70k you have a system that can't meet your max load, and will take 30-40 years to pay off ignoring the cost of repairs and replacement batteries???
