Businesses should be cautious about investing too much in solar power because their energy use doesn’t align perfectly with solar energy production. This mismatch might force them to rely on regular power sources, significantly raising energy costs in the long run.Renewable energy: Users pay for generated energy, regardless of actual consumption.
The review covers seven industries: financial services, food retailers, fitness, hospitality and entertainment, shopping centres, mining and agriculture.Using solar for 45% of energy needs can lead to a 77% increase in costs to cover the remaining 55% with other renewable sources. Rooftop solar, for example, provides limited coverage and leads to price increases because it doesn’t balance out energy use over the month.The best savings happen when about 30% of energy needs are met with renewables.
White paper findings: ‘Our analysis shows that output from a single solar facility can fluctuate by more than 14% between consecutive months, and by up to 33% for wind plants, and that’s if the sun was to shine and the wind was to blow as expected.’