A brand new examine printed within the journal Renewable Power makes use of knowledge from the state of California to exhibit that no blackouts occurred when wind-water-solar electrical energy provide exceeded 100% of demand on the state’s important grid for a report 98 of 116 days from late winter to early summer season 2024 for a mean (most) of 4.84 (10.1) hours per day.
In comparison with the identical interval in 2023, photo voltaic output in California is up 31%, wind energy is up 8%, and batteries are up a staggering 105%. Batteries provided as much as 12% of nighttime demand by storing and redistributing extra photo voltaic vitality.
And right here’s the kicker: California’s excessive electrical energy costs aren’t due to wind, water, and photo voltaic vitality. (That subject is primarily brought about by utilities recovering the price of wildfire mitigation, transmission and distribution investments, and internet vitality metering.)
In truth, researchers from Stanford, Lawrence Berkeley Nationwide Laboratory, and the College of California, Berkeley discovered that states with increased shares of renewable vitality are inclined to see decrease electrical energy costs. The takeaway – and the information backs it up – is that a big grid dominated by wind, water, and photo voltaic is just not solely possible, it’s additionally dependable.
The researchers concluded:
Regardless of the fast development and excessive penetration of [wind-water-solar] WWS, the spot value of electrical energy through the interval dropped by greater than 50% in contrast with the identical interval within the earlier yr, and no blackouts occurred, giving confidence that the addition of extra photo voltaic, wind, and batteries shouldn’t be a trigger for concern.
Mark Z. Jacobson, co-author of the paper and professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the environment/vitality program at Stanford College, defined in an electronic mail to Electrek:
This paper reveals that the primary grid on the earth’s fifth-largest financial system was capable of present greater than 100% of the electrical energy that it used from solely 4 clear renewable sources: photo voltaic, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal, for wherever from 5 minutes to over 10 hours per day for 98 out of 116 days throughout late winter, all of spring, and early summer season, in addition to for 132 days throughout the whole yr of 2024, with out its grid failing.
The expansion of photo voltaic, wind, and battery storage, specifically, resulted in fossil fuel use dropping 40% through the 116-day interval and 25% throughout the whole yr. As compared with 2023, photo voltaic, wind, and battery capacities elevated considerably, with batteries doubling in capability.
The paper additionally reveals that top electrical energy costs in California don’t have anything to do with renewables; actually, with out renewables, costs would have been increased.
In truth, 10 of the 11 US states with increased fractions of their demand powered by renewables have among the many lowest US electrical energy costs.
As an alternative, in California, the spot value of electrical energy dropped by over 50% through the interval of curiosity between 2023 and 2024, indicating it was simpler to match demand with provide with the rise in renewables and batteries in 2024.
Learn extra: New CA good grid regulation will assist photo voltaic and repair the grid by… merely changing wires
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