There are a lot of debates and discussions had around the subject of green energy. Some of them take place on the campaign trail, as this year’s presidential election showed; others are more focused around making the most efficient use of a given type of power. But there’s one question that hasn’t come up as much — though perhaps it should. What if certain types of green energy work too well?
That might be overstating things a bit, but based on a new investigation from Melody Petersen at the Los Angeles Times, something very strange seems to be happening with solar and wind power in California. As Petersen writes, “large commercial operators are increasingly forced to stop production” of solar power because the state’s systems are producing too much of it.
How can you have too much solar power, you might ask? That’s an excellent question, and it relates to another part of Petersen’s investigation: that excess power from the California grid is heading to other states, where customers there benefit by having lower electric bills. As for Californians — well, their electric bills are on the rise, despite the fact that this system is generating plenty of excess power.
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More buyers are opting for storage systems, for one thingThe state of California has set an ambitious goal of getting all of its energy from clean sources by 2045. As the Times investigation makes clear, there are several factors at play that could make that challenging — including the way that different stakeholders interact with the state’s energy market. it sure sounds like there’s a green energy-centric version of The Big Short to be written and/or filmed here — one that might make heads spin faster than your average wind turbine.
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