That's why I said kinda. Strictly speaking, you are right. They don't own your system. However, to me if somebody controls what you do with your electricity I.e export or curtailed, you don't own the the work product of your system.
Virtual power plant model you've described doesn't exist here in New England. National grid has some sort of thing where you can make a grand or two a year if they can use your battery during times of high demand. If I could do it standard off-the-shelf components, I could put together such a system for $6,000 installed but the payoff is in the decade range since we have flat rate power through municipal buying co-op.
> However, to me if somebody controls what you do with your electricity I.e export or curtailed, you don't own the the work product of your system.
They are controlling/charging for the use of the infrastructure. If you want to export power to, for example, the AI datacenter down the road, that power has to flow through the utility's lines, transformers, substations, etc. all of that incurs a cost to that infrastructure, including additional maintenance and faster depreciation and replacement times.
It's like the roads leading to your house - you pay for those also, via some form of tax. And if they are congested to an unsafe level, your access to them can be similarly metered or curtailed.
Also like roads, electricity distribution is a natural monopoly - you aren't going to have tons of companies stringing up independent power lines - for safety reasons at the minimum, which is why it's good if it's run by an accountable municipal agency, rather than an unaccountable for-profit corporation.
good points, using the grid as an export sink, incurs externalities. the choice is to pay them by accepting the net-metering rate or avoid them by running a zero export system.
Virtual power plant model you've described doesn't exist here in New England. National grid has some sort of thing where you can make a grand or two a year if they can use your battery during times of high demand. If I could do it standard off-the-shelf components, I could put together such a system for $6,000 installed but the payoff is in the decade range since we have flat rate power through municipal buying co-op.