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> utilities would quickly erase any peak-vs-non-peak arbitrage opportunities.

Probably right around the same time they're no longer necessary, as the cost of distribute solar continues to plummet. Its actually truly amazing how quickly the price continues to drop for panels each year.



Depends on country. I doubt you could ever run, say, Germany or Britain on locally produced solar power.


There also wind... But solar already provides quite a substantial contribution in Germany. See this live chart: https://www.energy-charts.de/power.htm.

Considering the rate at which solar power is getting cheaper, I'd say a solar power based economy is within reach.


Great link. It's also amazing how Solar power generation falls significantly in the winter months. For instance, December output is less than 10% of June!

Chart here: Check out monthly/weekly energy production for 2014 https://www.energy-charts.de/energy.htm


Sure, wind, geothermal, nuclear etc.


Relevant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Germany


But you could run it on a combination of onshore wind, offshore wind, distributed solar, utility solar, and energy storage (ie Tesla's Utility Storage solution).




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