dinfinity (u/dinfinity)

dinfinity commented on Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/... · Posted by u/Matrixik

adwn · 2 days ago

> This is trivially false if the cost of solar generation (and battery storage) further drops by 5x to 10x.

That's a huge "if". The cost of PV panels has come down by a factor of 10 in the last 13 years or so, that's true. I doubt another 10x decrease is possible, because at some point you run into material costs.

But the real issue is that price of the panels themselves is already only about 35% of the total installation cost of utility-scale PV. This means that even if the panels were free, it would only reduce the cost by a factor of 1.5.

dinfinity · a day ago

> But the real issue is that price of the panels themselves is already only about 35% of the total installation cost of utility-scale PV. This means that even if the panels were free, it would only reduce the cost by a factor of 1.5.

1. Do the other costs scale with the number of panels? Because if the sites are 5 times the scale of the current ones I would imagine there are considerable scale based cost efficiencies, both within projects and across projects (through standardization and commoditization).

2. Vertically mounted bifacial PV already greatly smoothes the power production curve throughout the day, improving profitability. Lower cost panels make the downside of requiring more panels in such a setup almost non-existent. Additionally, they reduce maintenance/cleaning costs by being mounted vertically.

3. Battery/energy storage (which further improve profitability) costs are dropping and can drop further.

Also, please address the matter of using the overprovisioned power in summer. Possible projects are underground thermal storage ("Pit Thermal Energy Storage", only works in places where heating is required in winter), desalination, producing ammonia for fertilizer, and producing jet fuel.

dinfinity commented on The Gorman Paradox: Where Are All the AI-Generated Apps? codemanship.wordpress.com... · Posted by u/ArmageddonIt

estimator7292 · 3 days ago

When I got hired at my current job, they handed me an AI generated app. It did a pretty reasonable job on the frontend, I think (I'm not a React guy), but the backend was a disaster. Part of it involved parsing a file and they had somehow fed the AI a test file with the first 20B truncated. I can tell that the AI tried hard to force the parser to match the file spec and ended up inserting checks for magic byte values that made no sense.

It took me a few days to realize what was happening. Once I got some good files it was just a couple hours to understand the problem. Then three weeks untangling the parser and making it actually match the spec.

And then three months refactoring the whole backend into something usable. It would have taken less time to redo it from scratch. If I'd known then what I know now, I would have scrapped the whole project and started over.

dinfinity · 3 days ago

Did you use AI to help you understand the code and what it was doing (incorrectly)?

dinfinity commented on Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/... · Posted by u/Matrixik

adwn · 3 days ago

I don't see you countering my argument, only attempting to ridicule it ("slighty more sophisticated", "trope", "these silly hippies", "been aware of the concept of winter", "existence of winter as a gotcha"). That sucks, man :-(

> If you want to critique their plans for dealing with it […]

There are many ideas for seasonal storage of PV-generated electricity, but so far there is no concrete plan that's both scalable to TWh levels and economically feasible. Here on HN, there's always someone who'll post the knee-jerk response of "just build more panels", without doing the simple and very obvious calculation that 5x to 10x overprovisioning would turn solar from one of the cheaper into the by far most expensive power generation method out there [1].

[1] Except for paying people to crank a generator by hand, although that might at least help with obesity rates.

dinfinity · 3 days ago

> 5x to 10x overprovisioning would turn solar from one of the cheaper into the by far most expensive power generation method out there.

This is trivially false if the cost of solar generation (and battery storage) further drops by 5x to 10x.

Additionally that implies the overprovisioned power is worthless in the summer, which does not have to be the case. It might make certain processes viable due to very low cost of energy during those months. Not trivial as those industries would have to leave the equipment using the power unused during winter months, but the economics could still work for certain cases.

Some of the cases might even specifically be those that store energy for use in winter (although then we're not looking at the 'pure' overprovisioning solution anymore).

dinfinity commented on Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/... · Posted by u/Matrixik

jmward01 · 3 days ago

I think there is a calculation that makes the point a little clearer. There is some distance, x, where it is cheaper to transport the electrons mechanically than it is to push them over a wire. Every month that distance gets shorter as battery prices drop. This gets even more advantageous for batteries when you start talking about variable use and generation since it is easier to change the destination or source of a battery container than it is to change the destination or source of transmission lines. My main point is that that distance x is going to rapidly get towards just a few miles away from point of use very shortly. Imagine a small city getting a local electricity provider. I actually think the way it is likely to go is that energy consumers (cities, factories, etc) will start installing backup power via battery shipment and then slowly start disconnecting from the larger grid as the cost of the battery container delivered power dips below the cost for transmission line delivered. The infrastructure is just so much more efficient for most use cases because we already have that infrastructure for shipping other goods.

dinfinity · 3 days ago

> My main point is that that distance x is going to rapidly get towards just a few miles away from point of use very shortly.

That seems physically unlikely to me. Sure, burying and maintaining cables costs money, but other than that transferring energy in a very fundamental and solid state way is going to be much easier than packaging it up and transporting it with heavy machinery.

This is definitely a case where your argument only works if it is supported by the actual calculation.

dinfinity commented on Vertical Solar Panels Are Out Standing hackaday.com/2025/09/25/v... · Posted by u/lxm

floatrock · 3 months ago

Article doesn't give a whole lot of context, but there's two key innovations here:

1. Bi-facial solar panels: can take in sunlight from either end

2. Mounting bi-facials vertically so they can take in sunlight from both directions.

I've been hearing experiments about these for a few years now. There's three main benefits to the vertical arrangement that could, given certain situations, make it more economically valuable:

1. In places with high-albedo snowy winters, this arrangement can boost winter production, which if you have snow, tends to be the energy-heavy time of year.

2. Keeps panels cooler. Panels lose efficiency when they get hot, and by having them vertical, they can run cooler. Losses in less direct sunlight are somewhat offset by efficiency gains from cooler operations.

3. More power during shoulder periods (anti-duck-curve). Especially in places like California that have high solar penetration, prices for excess energy are minimal during peak solar activity. Vertical arrangements give more power in the morning and evening, which is when traditional fields are just ramping up or ramping down. Thus, even if you're making less power overall, you can be making more valuable power by having more production during these ramp-up/ramp-down periods.

Unclear how much of an effect these counter-acting forces actually add, but I understand solar developers are looking into these arrangements.

dinfinity · 3 months ago

The anti-duck-curve is actually really, really pronounced for east-west mounted bifacial panels.

The panels still don't generate any electricity at night of course, but other than that the output is an almost perfect inverse of the conventional equator-facing angled mounted panel output.

Just search for "bifacial solar panels graph".

dinfinity commented on AI won't use as much electricity as we are told (2024) johnquigginblog.substack.... · Posted by u/hirpslop

jerf · 3 months ago

It's been a while, but I don't recall any of the dotcom startups making deals with nuclear energy companies to buy out entire nuclear power stations: https://www.npr.org/2024/09/20/nx-s1-5120581/three-mile-isla...

And that's just an example, there are many power-related deals of similar magnitude.

The companies building out capacity certainly believe that AI is going to use as much power as we are told. We are told this not on the basis of hypothetical speculation, but on the basis of billions of real dollars being spent on real power capacity for real data centers by real people who'd really rather keep the money in question. Previous hypotheses not backed by billions of dollars are not comparable predictions.

dinfinity · 3 months ago

1. Microsoft is not a "dotcom startup". We live in a different, much more consolidated tech world of companies that either balloon to become behemoths or are bought by existing behemoths.

2. Power and data centers can be used for other things than AI.

3. They might turn out to be wrong and not need the deal/power. For companies sitting on a shitload of cash that would be an inconvenience whereas not investing and then later having to beg for electricity amounts to losing the race.

dinfinity commented on ABC yanks Jimmy Kimmel’s show ‘indefinitely’ after threat from FCC chair cnn.com/2025/09/17/media/... · Posted by u/VikingCoder

compootr · 3 months ago

Not that I or anyone has done it, but there is theoretically there is a way to enjoy these TV shows for free from companies one doesn't want to fund. sailing or something...

dinfinity · 3 months ago

Yeah, if supporting fascism is okay, a little bit of copyright infringement is definitely okay.

dinfinity commented on Several people fired after clampdown on speech over Charlie Kirk shooting theguardian.com/us-news/2... · Posted by u/Geekette

dinfinity · 3 months ago

Yes. Yes, it is a tragic event. Apart from it being simply morally utterly reprehensible, it is an extremely primitive and counter-productive way to fight against ideas and the messengers of those ideas.

Again, morally reprehensible and it doesn't fucking work. It only shows 'the other side is just as bad/worse', turns the messenger into a martyr, and galvanizes support.

dinfinity commented on Windows 10 resists its end: usage share climbs while Windows 11's falls ghacks.net/2025/09/10/win... · Posted by u/speckx

dwringer · 3 months ago

When I learned the taskbar can't be placed on the side vertically is when I realized I'm never going to install Windows 11. That combined with 10 being advertised as "the last Windows I'll ever need to buy" and the fact their updater told me I have to replace my entire PC to be eligible to install it (in spite of the fact that I merely need to turn on a BIOS setting and my system would fully support it), then the notice that they'd be selling 1-year support contract extensions for anyone staying on 10... What's next, Windows declares itself outright as ransomware and holds my data hostage? I'm imagining a full screen overlay appears: "Nice OS install you've got here... Would be a shame if something... happened to it."

dinfinity · 3 months ago

Tip for enrolling in the Extended Security Updates for Win10:

https://github.com/builtbybel/Flyoobe/releases

> What’s new in Flyoobe 1.7.284

> This update is especially important for everyone still on Windows 10 who plans to stay there and take advantage of the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program.

Also in 1.10 stable, of course.

dinfinity commented on Microsoft PowerToys learn.microsoft.com/en-us... · Posted by u/akudlacek

jphoward · 3 months ago

Are you me? Exact same! The problem with dual monitors is either you're sat in front of the gap, or you need to pivot. This way you get a 'normal' monitor and a portrait section to the side, much better.

dinfinity · 3 months ago

The obvious solution is going triple monitor:

One 32" 3840x2160 landscape and two 25" 2560x1440 portrait monitors is perfect for me.