Solar breaks 50% of California electricity for first time driving wholesale rates negative

[Mr. Sparkle]

Source: Electrek

According to the EIA, California solar power has been driving wholesale electricity rates towards – and sometimes below – $0/MWh – and on March 11th total solar power production broke 50% of demand. The increase in utility-scale solar power , which grew 50% in the state in 2016, is quickly changing the landscape. Recently we saw California solar + wind hit a record high at 49.2%, with all renewable energy above 56%.

In March, during the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., system average hourly prices were frequently at or below $0 per megawatthour (MWh). In contrast, average hourly prices in March 2013–15 during this time of day ranged from $14/MWh to $45/MWh.

This type of event has happened in other places – Germany gets the headlines often. It is expected that there will be so much solar power this spring and summer (plus large amounts of hydroelectric power) that curtailment will need to occur on solar assets.

On March 11th, the California power grid broke 50% solar power for the first time – when considering ALL sources of solar power in the state

Read more: https://electrek.co/2017/04/07/solar-power-breaks-50-of-california-demand-for-first-time-driving-negative-wholesale-electricity-rates/

[Le Gaucher]

1. An on the other end of spectrum are republican states like West Virginia and Kansas

I wonder how are they doing in terms of becoming energy independent.

[modrepub]

18. They're paying higher rates

to have coal provide their power. Coal produced electricity is more expensive on average than just about all other electric production methods on the PJM grid except nuclear. The only time coal power is "cheap" is when it's either cold or hot and capacity is pinched by some other unforeseen bottleneck in the electric grid.

Note: Energy independence does not equate with lower energy bills.

[Bengus81]

26. Ummm...Kansas is only 1200 MW behind California in wind generation...

Do the math on the size difference of the two States and we would actually create more per sq mile IMO. Kansas creates almost as much wind energy as Nebraska,ND and South Dakota combined. We create more wind energy than Colorado and New Mexico combined. There's TEN States in the deep south that create ZERO MW of wind energy.

We also create solar energy here but need to create even more and we have a nuke plant.

[Le Gaucher]

31. Sorry meant to say Kentucky.. not Kansas.

Apologies!

[Ligyron]

2. but, but Fox News says solar is impracticle and unrealistic for large scale power production!

and the government investing in start-up companies is a proven scam.

Wind turbines? Why those things kill little birdies.

[Bengus81]

27. Yep...FOX and pillboy always said your can't wind an solar power yourself to independence....

But they also said O'Reilly was a decent person.

[Warpy]

3. NM's power is getting cheap, too

although it was never as expensive as it is in bordering states. Small solar fields have sprung up in vacant lots like mushrooms, owners leasing the lots to the utilities.

Now all we need to do is figure out nighttime generation. This is a heavily volcanic state, so geothermal is a possibility.

[eezapata]

8. Tesla Power walls

easy Tesla Power Walls to store excess energy then use it at night.

[rurallib]

19. Welcome to DU and thanks for the info

that is very interesting.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. That is/will be the by-product of all the new electric cars being built.

If we can invent a battery to store enough power to push a 4000 pound vehicle a hundred miles, we can power a house for half a day.

[DippyDem]

4. Way to go California! Fuck oil and gas. NT

[7962]

5. So is it just solar or including Hydro, like Germany?

Because the snow melt will generate a LOT of power over the coming few months

[Wounded Bear]

9. Hydro doesn't vary that much, I wouldn't think...

although the recent droughts in California probably depressed production.

If anything, they'll return to pre-drought levels. But there's a natural cap on what can be produced set by the size of the tubes and generators, regardless if water levels are 150% of normal or not.

[7962]

10. Got it. Thanks!!

[progree]

12. The hydro contributes to making the cost negative...

Per the EIA, there are multiple reasons why March is the season most probable for negative wholesale rates, including one unique to this year – heavy amounts of hydroelectric power due to flooding this winter. The other major reason is that spring and fall are low demand seasons due to the temperate climate

There's a graph in the linked article showing the amount contributed by hydro, nuclear, thermal, and so on, for March 11 by time of day...
https://electrek.co/2017/04/07/solar-power-breaks-50-of-california-demand-for-first-time-driving-negative-wholesale-electricity-rates/

Another edit: Oh looky - the graph embeds --

[7962]

13. And thank you as well. More info makes more sense too!

And there is a big difference in usage during spring and fall. I know it sure is wehre I am, in GA. My elec bill last month was 87.00. This month it will probably hit the low 50s. Now when summer hits full force, well, back up over 100!

[diane in sf]

15. Most of the hydro in California comes from Oregon and Washington.

[reggaehead]

20. I was just checking on that

Only about 4% of Cali hydro generated pwr comes from Pacific NorthWest. Most comes from Shasta and Oroville. And with the drought officially over hydro generation will probably be near capacity of 21000 MW or about 9% of total generated pwr. http://www.energy.ca.gov/hydroelectric/

[Hortensis]

24. Thanks. Saved me from looking up after a clearly

erroneous statement.

I lived in the Sierras and their foothills in a number of places when I was a child, including near Oroville. The year President Kennedy died, a large airliner crashed above where I lived in south Lake Tahoe and completely disappeared into an accumulated snowpack that was believed to average over 150 feet deep. I remember standing looking at the mountains above and knowing those missing dead people had to be...right up there somewhere. The truly awesome spring torrents pouring out of those mountains, like the Grizzly Rapids in El Portal, were a normal part of my life, but these rivers never dry up.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

34. You got me wondering how much the Pacific DC Intertie brought in.

Pacific DC Intertie

The Pacific DC Intertie (also called Path 65) is an electric power transmission line that transmits electricity from the Pacific Northwest to the Los Angeles area using high voltage direct current (HVDC). The line capacity is 3,100 megawatts, which is enough to serve two to three million Los Angeles households and represents almost half (48.7%) of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) electrical system's peak capacity.

A linked page says that the capacity of the Celilo Converter Station, near The Dalles, Oregon, was upgraded to 3,800 megawatts in 2016.

[msongs]

6. blog, not a news site, not LBN really nt

[a kennedy]

7. Woohoo.....we got picked out of some 50 homes to get solar panels

installed on our roof from the State of MN. If we would pay 30,000 for the installation we'd be in the money and getting money back from our energy compan right now, but we can't afford the 30,000 so we'll just have smaller electric bills which is just fine by me. When we sell our home that'll only add to the value of the home as well. Soooooooooo happy.

[Hortensis]

25. Congrats overall, but $30K for a government-sponsored

installation, which is to say very large scale? What the heck?

Hillary hoped to have nearly 500 million solar panels installed by the end of her first term.

[roamer65]

11. Good. You folks can speed up the shutdown of Diablo Canyon.

California will then be a nuclear free state.

[hunter]

29. I'd rather they shut down the gas plants first.

Gas is by far the more dangerous fuel.

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. Natural gas producers must be shittin' bricks n/t

[hunter]

30. Nope. Gas is the preferred fuel when the sun's not shining and the wind's not blowing.

That's one of the synergies pushing utilities away from coal. Modern gas plants are nimble enough to fill in the gaps of solar and wind production. Typical coal plants can't do that.

The Humboldt Bay Power Plant in California is one example of that. It's basically a big shed full of very large marine diesel engines powered by gas.



Other nimble gas power plants use gas turbines very similar to jet airplane engines.

[griloco]

16. People, people, people (smh) why are you so solarhappy?

This Chinese Hoax is very bad for Putin's Petroleum Products

[IronLionZion]

17. Trump will bring back Enron

and make California have rolling blackouts again

to punish them for stealing the coal jobs away from more deserving Trumpers

[riversedge]

22. Would love for to happen across America.

[jpak]

23. But solar power is SOOOOOOO expensive

[Bengus81]

28. The therory that has been around for years....

Is that a grid of solar 100mi x 100mi in the Nevada desert would power the entire US. Those could be broken up into several smaller fields in the US and then spend infrastructure money to run the needed power lines to them instead of bombing deserted airbases.

[David__77]

32. In 2015, solar represented 6% of California electricity consumption.

See: http://www.energy.ca.gov/almanac/electricity_data/total_system_power.html

The article references solar's share of demand (kW) at a particular point in time - kW demand being a measure of electricity called for at a specific moment (not period) of time, whereas electricity consumption (kWh) is a very different measurement, capturing electricity consumption over time. Solar is still a small share of overall electricity consumption.

I don't point that out to negate the importance of solar, just to make the distinction. Solar, by being available during the day, reduces the need for other sources to supply power during the peak demand periods, which tend to occur when it's hottest outside (and, I assume, sunny here in California).

It's quite an accomplishment that renewables accounted for about a fifth of electricity supplied and a quarter of electricity generated in-state.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

33. Cost per megawatt-hour based on energy source

Last edited Sat Apr 8, 2017, 03:06 PM - Edit history (1)

I just posted a thread in the Environment & Energy Group:

From Maine to California, Investors Build Own Green-Power Lines

It links to an article in The Wall Street Journal. In the comments, there is a link to a paper that goes into the cost per megawatt-hour based on energy source.

For free access to articles in The Wall Street Journal., trying going in through the authors' Twitter feeds.

From Maine to California, Investors Build Own Green-Power Lines

Link to tweet

Investors Are Building Their Own Green-Power Lines

@WSJ senior energy reporter. I write books (The Boom http://ow.ly/uhtMA ) -- 2d on the way. Interested? Send me an email russell @ http://russellgold.net .

The comments to the article are worth a look. They go off into a discussion of the costs of power based on the energy source. When asked for a source for his costs, one commenter links to this:

L A Z A R D ' S L E V E L I Z E D C O S T O F E N E R G Y A N A L Y S I S — V E R S I O N 9 . 0

[whistler162]

35. Not good!!

Solar should not break any electricity! Hopefully, they fix it.