Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity

Time-of-use pricing and “smart grid” behavior

• Many see free midday power as classic demand-shaping: shift loads (laundry, dishwashers, hot water, EVs) into low‑carbon, low‑price hours.
• Examples from the UK and EU show agile tariffs and EV windows already working, with some households halving average kWh cost.
• Others push back that this offloads cognitive/administrative work onto consumers who are already time‑poor, and fear it will justify “surge pricing” for those unable to adapt.

Home storage, thermal mass, and EVs

• Strong enthusiasm for using cheap/“free” hours to charge home batteries, EVs, or even thermal storage (pre‑cooling buildings, using high‑mass materials or ice tanks).
• Some argue a $1,000 battery arbitraging daily price swings can pay back in a few years; others note battery depreciation and modest savings if free periods are short.
• Several point out that “charge your car in the day” doesn’t fit many commuters’ patterns unless workplace charging is widespread.

Australian policy, feed-in tariffs, and equity

• Context: early high feed‑in tariffs created a rooftop solar boom; now midday wholesale prices often go negative, and export tariffs have fallen sharply.
• The free-midday scheme is seen as a response to that oversupply; some call it a “generational success story” of distributed solar, now being extended to non‑solar households.
• Critics argue the overall transition has favored wealthier owner‑occupiers: renters and low‑income households lack capital for panels/batteries, face high standing charges, and see large retail prices (often >A$0.30–0.60/kWh).
• Skepticism that utilities will keep total bills down: expectation that fixed charges and non‑free hours may quietly rise to compensate.

China, Germany, and the solar cost collapse

• Broad agreement that mass Chinese manufacturing (plus earlier US/German R&D and German demand‑pull) drove panel prices down, enabling today’s oversupply.
• A long subthread debates whether this “service to the world” is tainted by alleged forced labor in Xinjiang; some see clear evidence, others dismiss it as politicized or overstated.

Transmission, global grids, and long-term visions

• Discussion of HVDC “global grid” ideas: ship surplus solar across time zones, citing existing and proposed long undersea links. Losses and strategic vulnerability are concerns but seen as technically manageable.
• Others argue local rooftop+storage may undercut long cables, and that overbuilding solar, adding wind, and mass batteries is more realistic than pure long‑distance transmission.