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They mention California. https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply is a dashboard showing electricity demand and

They mention California. https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply is a dashboard showing electricity demand and supply, real-time and historical. Yesterday evening's peak demand was between 7-8pm at 30.7 gigawatts. Supply breakdown around 8pm: Batteries: 8.4 GW Natural gas: 6.0 GW Renewables: 5.4 GW Large hydro: 4.4 GW Imports: 4.1 GW Nuclear: 2.3 GW This is a remarkable development. All of the peak demand supplied from batteries used to be supplied by natural gas just a couple years ago.

Nicholas_C 1y ago
That is much higher than I would have expected. Good news. What are they using to charge the batteries though? I wonder if it's offpeak renewables or mostly natural gas?
- gpm 1y ago
  If you scroll to the "Supply trend" graph you can see when the batteries were charging and how electricity was being generated at that time. It's the renewables during the day while the sun is shining.
- mjamesaustin 1y ago
  Daytime solar, in the summer especially. Power demand yesterday was negative from 11:30 to 3:30, for instance, meaning batteries can charge for free to absorb excess solar generation during those hours.
UltraSane 1y ago
That is impressive but California electricity is pretty expensive compared to most of the rest of the US.
asdefghyk 1y ago
RE "...All of the peak demand supplied from batteries...." This is a very good start. My question is how do the batteries go , if there is 1 - N days of cloudy weather? Can the batteries supply the peak for more than one day? Is there ( or where would they go ) transmission lines to bring in the needed peak supply from other storage (battery / pumped hydro ) areas? Another step would be to include days of peak electricity demand, which in my country occurs in cold weather ( heaters) and very hot weather ( air conditioner's ) OR is there demand limits like in Spain demand limit for some houses is around 3KW (YUKS)
toomuchtodo 1y ago
https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/california-energy-storage-system-survey https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/califo...
reactordev 1y ago
It's the imports that get you. The energy marketplace is all over the place in regards to price because of the demand for energy.
bluefirebrand 1y ago
Yeah Unfortunately, California is a terrible benchmark. It is as close to ideal for Solar as it gets. Most places are not going to see this kind of performance It's the same kind of thing we see with self driving cars. They can navigate sunny California streets so "self driving" must be so close! But put them anywhere with snow, rain, fog, or even just grey skies and they struggle heavily California represents the easy 80% side of the Pareto curve for a lot of this stuff
- Aurornis 1y ago
  > Unfortunately, California is a terrible benchmark. It is as close to ideal for Solar as it gets. Most places are not going to see this kind of performance There are many place that get a lot of sun. As solar panels come down in price, it becomes even easier to compensate for deficits with additional panels. It’s common practice to install more solar panel capacity than inverter capacity because panels are rarely operating at peak output anyway. If you’re installing 100kW of inverters, you might install 120kW of panels. The panel array wouldn’t exceed 100kW most of the time anyway. In a location with suboptimal sun, you might install an even higher ratio of panels to inverter and battery capacity. Some people get bothered by this because they feel like some of the solar power is wasted at peak capacity, but you have to consider that the inverter and battery capacity is also wasted when you’re not sending enough from the panel array. It’s a balancing act. You also have to consider that the same sunlight that makes California good for solar also creates additional demand for air conditioning. A location with less sun would have less solar heat gain, which is easier to serve for many reasons.
- pshirshov 1y ago
  I have negative energy bills and high net export with my moderate system in Ireland which is definitely not considered a good solar country.
  - bluefirebrand 1y ago
    Most power generation is not used for peoples homes, though
woodpanel 1y ago
Aww, that old „pick a specific timeframe on a specific day, preferably summer, to get an convenient picture“ trick. incompleteness by design. Supply itself is an inadequate metric. Yet convenient to obstruct the view upon CA that beacon of the future, suddenly being littered with third world brown and blackouts.

Nicholas_C 1y ago

That is much higher than I would have expected. Good news. What are they using to charge the batteries though? I wonder if it's offpeak renewables or mostly natural gas?

gpm 1y ago
If you scroll to the "Supply trend" graph you can see when the batteries were charging and how electricity was being generated at that time. It's the renewables during the day while the sun is shining.
mjamesaustin 1y ago
Daytime solar, in the summer especially. Power demand yesterday was negative from 11:30 to 3:30, for instance, meaning batteries can charge for free to absorb excess solar generation during those hours.

UltraSane 1y ago

That is impressive but California electricity is pretty expensive compared to most of the rest of the US.

asdefghyk 1y ago

RE "...All of the peak demand supplied from batteries...." This is a very good start. My question is how do the batteries go , if there is 1 - N days of cloudy weather? Can the batteries supply the peak for more than one day? Is there ( or where would they go ) transmission lines to bring in the needed peak supply from other storage (battery / pumped hydro ) areas? Another step would be to include days of peak electricity demand, which in my country occurs in cold weather ( heaters) and very hot weather ( air conditioner's ) OR is there demand limits like in Spain demand limit for some houses is around 3KW (YUKS)

toomuchtodo 1y ago

https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/california-energy-storage-system-survey https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/califo...

reactordev 1y ago

It's the imports that get you. The energy marketplace is all over the place in regards to price because of the demand for energy.

bluefirebrand 1y ago

Yeah Unfortunately, California is a terrible benchmark. It is as close to ideal for Solar as it gets. Most places are not going to see this kind of performance It's the same kind of thing we see with self driving cars. They can navigate sunny California streets so "self driving" must be so close! But put them anywhere with snow, rain, fog, or even just grey skies and they struggle heavily California represents the easy 80% side of the Pareto curve for a lot of this stuff

Aurornis 1y ago
> Unfortunately, California is a terrible benchmark. It is as close to ideal for Solar as it gets. Most places are not going to see this kind of performance There are many place that get a lot of sun. As solar panels come down in price, it becomes even easier to compensate for deficits with additional panels. It’s common practice to install more solar panel capacity than inverter capacity because panels are rarely operating at peak output anyway. If you’re installing 100kW of inverters, you might install 120kW of panels. The panel array wouldn’t exceed 100kW most of the time anyway. In a location with suboptimal sun, you might install an even higher ratio of panels to inverter and battery capacity. Some people get bothered by this because they feel like some of the solar power is wasted at peak capacity, but you have to consider that the inverter and battery capacity is also wasted when you’re not sending enough from the panel array. It’s a balancing act. You also have to consider that the same sunlight that makes California good for solar also creates additional demand for air conditioning. A location with less sun would have less solar heat gain, which is easier to serve for many reasons.
pshirshov 1y ago
I have negative energy bills and high net export with my moderate system in Ireland which is definitely not considered a good solar country.
- bluefirebrand 1y ago
  Most power generation is not used for peoples homes, though

woodpanel 1y ago

Aww, that old „pick a specific timeframe on a specific day, preferably summer, to get an convenient picture“ trick. incompleteness by design. Supply itself is an inadequate metric. Yet convenient to obstruct the view upon CA that beacon of the future, suddenly being littered with third world brown and blackouts.