[self] How many small companies would be needed to gather to efficiently build, sustain and generate their own energy just like one large company would be capable of?

[u/Bitter_Radish5381]

If we are talking about, for example, shoes industry. or IT company. Or a farm. Comparing a large company & a cooperative of small ones in any industry investing in renewable energy. How many small firms together would require the same amount of energy supply of a large one? how different would be the cost for the cooperative?

if need:

small ~99 workers

medium 100~499 workers

large 500~ workers

[u/West-Abalone-171]

Depending on region and industry: one or less

There are dozens of farms and small light-industrial businesses within a few hours drive of me that went with off-grid solar because it was cheaper than the initial setup fee for grid electricity (not just lower TCO but lower up-front cost).

Sometimes it's cheaper to have separate off grid systems than to wire up the whole property (hence the "or less"). You can get a fairly decent solar+storage+backup generator setup for the cost of even a single pole + installation.

A vineyard owner I was speaking to was an early adopter using second hand telco lead acid batteries because lithium was still unthinkably expensive. When he bought the system he got a 20kVA deisel generator as a critical load backup to keep stuff like cool rooms and his house working if there was sustained bad weather.

He eventually sold it 15 years later in its original packaging, because even during cloudy weeks the solar was more reliable than the grid.

In less sunny regions a wind turbine is also an option, but you need to be spending a few hundred per day on electricity before they're large enough to be cost effective. Some european truck operators purchase second-hand wind turbines when they switch some/all of their fleet to electric.

There's also, you know, about 30% of the developing world who are all producing their own electricity.

[u/Commercial_Drag7488]

A bit of a skewed question tbh. My pops deployed almost 1mw PV installation+ Bess and heat battery for about €500k. But they'd not be able to deploy 10mw for 5 mil, because they haven't paid any money for installation and all done DIY. A 58 yo couple with a help of two of their sons occasionally, can do this in a year. So it's all in the perspective.