265 #ClimateSolutions #Cities #CommunityPower

Let me tell you a story, and it's not a fairy tale. This really happened !
And why this is very important and SIGNIFICANT for nowadays #Western #PowerSupply.
It's a long read but please, bear with me.

A few years ago, in a very poor part of india, a man started a small landslide.
His small village did not have electric power. The costs were to high and demand was too low. The man bought a solar panel. Initially for his own use [phone and other electronics] but he soon saw an opportunity to win back the costs.
He started charging portable flashlights for the community. It turned out to be a great success. Children were able to do homework in the evenings, chores could be done etc.
Education flourished and so did the economy for that little community. His 'business' grew, but only a small profit was made on purpose. After all, it was mainly a service to his own community.
More panels were installed and got interconnected with others. The man found a way to let people pay each other. Still very cheap: the sun is free of charge and it was a service for the community.
Other villages joined and started the same, and the effects were the same.

Than something happened. The demand grew and grew. Becoming interesting for the major power suppliers. And the villagers wanted a TV and refrigerator...
So, a big man [not in size but for his pockets] came to offer more electrical power. But on two conditions: 1) pay for the [new] electricity; 2) integrate [cut / doom] the solar panel system. Most of the villages agreed. It meant TV's and refrigerators. But one or two villages resisted.

Now to the villages COMPLIED and got connected, two big things happened:
) Once connected to the grid, the solar system collapsed. And when that was done the price of the electricity went up. There was no way back once you had a TV.
) For the first time in their existence the community split up. Those who could afford a TV [the rich] and those who could not [the poor] The latter kept on charging the flashlights until this was prohibited by the big pocketed man.

But what happened to the few villages that RESISTED the big pocketed man ? They got to be in a stalemate. The villages, as a community kept on going to thrive. They had lived ages without a TV or refrigerator so they could do without a bit longer and kept the flashlights charged. The big man however kept seeing the possibility of profit and did not really want to wait that long. He kept on asking. And negotiating started.
Now in these villages two other things happened.
They eventually got connected to the grid of the big man but conditions were different. Much to the benefit of the community.

) They did [of course] agree to pay for the power delivered but the bill would be integrated in the payment system already in place for the villagers.
) The solar power system already in place got improved upon using the technical know-how of the big man.
In these villages the benefits of electric power kept growing. They only used the grid [$$] when the supply of the free solar ran out. The community felt empowered by their action and did not split up. Just the way they used to.

Now why is this story SIGNIFICANT for modern day western society ?

First of all: developments for us worked the other way round. First 'we' got the expensive [and dirty] big power supply and then came the solar panels. 'We' already got used to the TV's and much more before power became free.

We came to see solar as a surplus to the already existing. Therefore we also are very used to power suppliers being or acting like monopolistic powers. When solar came the big man saw it first and foremost as a nuisance.
It cut into their profits ánd they were forced to integrate them in their own, one way, system. They didn't take solar serious until very late.

And now they [the big men] are complaining that the grid can't cope. The grid could have if they started earlier. The grid could cope if they surrendered their monopolistic approach, a bit.
If they made smaller, community grids possible.

I, as a non solar user, would gladly pay for the surplus solar of my neighbor on high tides, before I go to the grid. As I would for the wind turbine IMBY.
But, that would cut in their profit. And as said those big men are the monopolists.

Instead of complaining and stomping on regressive measures [less solar], they should improve their grid and their services.!
How about if industrial sites, or neighborhoods, creating solar and wind on and for their own. Using that power first, before relying on the grid [being so fragile and all].