How Does Local Solar Stack Up Against The Grid? New Map Provides Countrywide Comparison Of Solar PV And Grid Efficiency

If you’re interested in knowing exactly where in the country solar energy is the most efficient — as compared to the local grid — then this new map (posted below) from Energy Points should be right up your alley.

The map directly compares the efficiency of the local grid to the average efficiency of solar PV, in most of the major cities of the US — as well as simultaneously mapping out the distribution of the country’s solar resources. It’s a cool map. Check it out:

Image Credit: Energy Points

The “efficiency” metric reportedly “pulls together every imaginable resource factor into one, theoretically allowing a customer to know what energy technologies will have the biggest environmental impact,” as Greentech Media‘s Stephen Lacey writes.

Unsurprisingly, the Southwest is where you have the most to gain by switching from grid electricity to solar PV — primarily due to the high solar insolation and the region’s reliance on relatively inefficient coal. Contrast that with the cloudy Northwest, where, unsurprisingly (again), the hydro-powered grid is more efficient than average solar PV.

While much of the map shows what you’d probably expect (if you’re familiar with the subject), it’s still interesting to see everything mapped out so clearly, imo.

Greentech Media provides more commentary:

Of course, there are lots of other considerations for investing in distributed energy: diminishing price volatility, increasing power reliability, or even boosting public relations. But the map provides a useful guide when considering the net energy benefit of installing solar.

The information comes from Energy Points’ database of source energy, which compiles factors such as resource availability, the local generation mix, environmental conditions and the lifecycle energy use of different technologies. The startup uses that data to help commercial or industrial customers evaluate onsite energy decisions by modeling source energy against a company’s billing and consumption data. The model could also help governments determine where to focus efforts in resource conservation and energy-related programs.

“We see ourselves as a big calculation engine,” explained Ory Zik, founder and CEO of Energy Points. “The end goal is to be the calculation that everyone uses in order to know their source energy. Most companies only focus on what they consume onsite. But the market is tied together. We bother to do the calculation on the real energy return on energy invested.”

Still, calculations like these are based on a lot of assumptions. It would be interesting to see the exact assumptions Energy Points is using to come up with its comparisons.

Nonetheless, it’s no secret that solar power is increasingly competitive. A new report from the historically conservative International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that, by the year 2050, 27% of all the electricity that’s produced in the world will be from solar energy installations. (To be exact, that’s 27% from solar PV and solar thermal.) While the reality is that the figure could actually be quite a bit higher than 27%, it’s still interesting to see an organization like the IEA make a prediction like that.

Coming back to the Energy Points work, it seems this could help convince many more individuals, companies, and governments to go solar. But it seems that a little more clarity on what “efficiency” means here could be useful.