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Dan: Reality is, the goal for most homeowners is a lower electric bill. Until residential level energy storage becomes much more cost effective ( == lower price) and is provided by outfits besides those run by a con man, it ain't there yet.
As for west facing systems, since they will provide more energy later in the day (but still less energy overall than will a more southerly orientation), the ramp up in demand on the grid at sunset may be steeper, but that will be due to the shorter time of ramp up, or sharper drop off of west facing panel output as f(time), not the increase in demand on the system. Let the POCO and free market/demand figure that one out. You can't do it.
A generally available, safe, viable, cost effective and small scale (e.g. residential level) storage scheme - when and if it becomes viable - and it ain't here yet - will actually deflate the argument for more westerly facing arrays being more cost effective under T.O.U. billing tariffs. (which, at least for most of CA, they are not anyway, at least not beyond about a 200 - 210 deg. azimuth +/- some).
In the limit, and theoretically, the larger a residential storage unit is, the more it will tend to take on some of the characteristics of a net metering tariff, that is and primarily, it will tend to approach an infinite storage size.
On a grid scale, depending on individual loads, any residential storage can smooth out the day to night transition from local (residential) generation to meeting demand with POCO supplied grid power. It will be one way/tool/method to move to the future. The challenge will be, as always, to watch out for the con men and their ignorant minions who, in their wishful, shortsighted, myopic and mostly self-centered non thinking, unknowingly support the con artists. Caveat Emptor.
As for west facing systems, since they will provide more energy later in the day (but still less energy overall than will a more southerly orientation), the ramp up in demand on the grid at sunset may be steeper, but that will be due to the shorter time of ramp up, or sharper drop off of west facing panel output as f(time), not the increase in demand on the system. Let the POCO and free market/demand figure that one out. You can't do it.
A generally available, safe, viable, cost effective and small scale (e.g. residential level) storage scheme - when and if it becomes viable - and it ain't here yet - will actually deflate the argument for more westerly facing arrays being more cost effective under T.O.U. billing tariffs. (which, at least for most of CA, they are not anyway, at least not beyond about a 200 - 210 deg. azimuth +/- some).
In the limit, and theoretically, the larger a residential storage unit is, the more it will tend to take on some of the characteristics of a net metering tariff, that is and primarily, it will tend to approach an infinite storage size.
On a grid scale, depending on individual loads, any residential storage can smooth out the day to night transition from local (residential) generation to meeting demand with POCO supplied grid power. It will be one way/tool/method to move to the future. The challenge will be, as always, to watch out for the con men and their ignorant minions who, in their wishful, shortsighted, myopic and mostly self-centered non thinking, unknowingly support the con artists. Caveat Emptor.
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