LettersChina’s power crisis: back up electricity grid with solar energy

It could be time that every electrical structure has independently harvested solar energy as an emergency power storage system. There already are fossil-fuel-powered generator systems that engage once the regular electric-grid flow gets cut off, so why not use clean solar energy instead of the very old-school and carbon-intensive means?

Furthermore, it may no longer be prudent to have every structure’s entire electricity supply relying on external power lines that are susceptible to being crippled by unforeseen events, including storms of unprecedented magnitude, especially considering most humans’ overreliance on electricity.

Also, in the event of a coronal mass ejection, in which magnetised plasma from the sun is ejected into the surroundings, the powerful electromagnetic field effects would leave electrical grids vulnerable to extensive damage and long-lasting power outages.

Here in the West, however, if such solar-power system universality would come at the expense of the traditional energy production companies, one can expect obstacles, including the political and regulatory sort. If it conflicts with corporate big-profit interests, even very progressive motions are greatly resisted, often enough successfully.

And, of course, there will be those who will rebut the concept altogether, perhaps solely on the notion that if it were possible, it would have been patented already and made a few people very wealthy.

​Frank Sterle Jnr, British Columbia