Posted on 04/22/2024 7:51:20 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
In sunny California, solar panels are everywhere. They sit in dry, desert landscapes in the Central Valley and are scattered over rooftops in Los Angeles’s urban center. By last count, the state had nearly 47 gigawatts of solar power installed — enough to power 13.9 million homes and provide over a quarter of the Golden State’s electricity.
But now, the state and its grid operator are grappling with a strange reality: There is so much solar on the grid that, on sunny spring days when there’s not as much demand, electricity prices go negative. Gigawatts of solar are “curtailed” — essentially, thrown away.
In response, California has cut back incentives for rooftop solar and slowed the pace of installing panels. But the diminishing economic returns may slow the development of solar in a state that has tried to move to renewable energy. And as other states build more and more solar plants of their own, they may soon face the same problems.
“These are not insurmountable challenges,” said Michelle Davis, head of global solar at the energy research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie Power and Renewables. “But they are challenges that a lot of grid operators have never had to deal with.”
Solar power has many wonderful properties — once built, it costs almost nothing to run; it produces no air pollution and generates energy without burning fossil fuels. But it also has one major, obvious drawback: The sun doesn’t shine all the time.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
But..but..☹️
Silly me...
I thought the sun was shining all the time, but we kept turning away from it for 12 hours each day.
-PJ
The answer exists and has existed ever since they built hydroelectric dams in series. Use the excess power generated during the day to pump water from the lowest lake to the highest lake. Let the water flow down at night and generate power. been doing it for many years. solar power converted into potential energy. 1st year physics.
That’s a good idea as well or underground heat sinks that give off heat over the course of the night as well.
You need huge, economical energy storage systems which do not exist and won’t ever exist. Dams filled with water. problem solved. Except they don’t want to solve the problem.
Two Factoids
1) Kalifornia has mandated solar energy rooftops for all new construction. There is no ‘choice.’
2) “”Without any meaningful existing storage capacity””
I once read an opinion piece about the existence of massive stores of solar power.....it’s called.......coal.
They need a corresponding load which can go into use when power is plentiful and shut down otherwise.
Desalination plants would be an example. Fresh water could be generated and stored.
I don't think we are going to be in trouble energy wise in the future, if we can keep the commies and WEF types from enslaving us in dark basements and feeding us bugs.
Panic mongers gonna monger.
there’s a concept called kinetic energy storage. Basically the excess power spins up a wheel or cranes up a weight. Then when required the stored kinetic energy is discharged as electrical.
that could work.
Don’t even feel sorry. California is a disaster.
FTA: the state had nearly 47 gigawatts of solar power installed — enough to power 13.9 million homes and provide over a quarter of the Golden State’s electricity.
Except they don’t as the sun goes down everyday. The panels also get lots of dirt on then and the efficiency is not what is claimed.
California ISO
http://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/supply.html
2022 Total System Electric Generation
https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2022-total-system-electric-generation
Democrats always pull the rug out of everything.
Who will take care of the warranty now that the companies are gone?
Imagine the cost of repairing the panels or replacing your roof and having to remove the panels first.
Who will reinstall them and at what cost as few if any companies will be around to do so?
California Has Dealt a Blow to Renewable Energy, Some Businesses Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/14/business/energy-environment/california-rooftop-solar.html
Thousands of companies — including installers, manufacturers and distributors — are reeling from the new policy, which took effect in April and greatly reduced incentives that had encouraged homeowners to install solar panels. Since the change, sales of rooftop solar installations in California dropped as much as 85 percent in some months of 2023 from a year earlier
Sun don’t shine ...
...or launch a geo-stationary mylar mirror into orbit...
Use the excess power to pump water back over to the other side of a hydro electric dam for power use at night... should work.
Like when they demand we conserve water and then when people do, they have to raise the prices of water since not as much is being used.
Solar makes sense for homeowner use.
It makes zero sense from a grid integration standpoint.
And since Deep State can’t tax it when collected and consumed by individual homeowners, it’s gotta go.
Charge EVs at work, mid-day
Mid-day I heat a tank water heater to 145 degrees
Got an 80 gallon
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