If solar were free, but we still needed to pay for battery storage, how would it then compare in cost to fuel-based alternatives (fossil fuel, nuclear etc)?
People use way too much power for battery storage to be viable. The average household consumes 28.9kwh in a day (in 2017), which is way more than rooftop solar can provide.
Maybe when we have smaller houses and don't have a bajillion devices plugged in all the time.
The majority of solar comes from Utility scale about 60/40 vs. rooftop solar:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_Stat...Not in Australia, where we have much more roof-top solar (and which is less than half-the-price installed of roof-top in the US)
Interesting! Do you have any idea why it's so much cheaper?
Hyper-competitive low-margin market, many very efficient vertically-integrated solar sales businesses (sales, installation, logistics), lower selling costs (very engaged consumers), most homes single story so lower installation costs, and lower permitting and connection costs.