California achieved a landmark in its quest for clean energy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. California produced enough renewable electricity on May 8th to supply 103% of its consumer demand. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing. This broke the previous record of 99.9%.
Experts in energy say that the fall in records is a sign of the incredible progress made by renewable energy. However, this doesn’t mean that fossil fuels are gone.
Natural gas power plants in California were still operating even after the record was broken.
California is still unable to turn off natural gas power despite its rapid growth in renewable energy. It is because the sun sets at night, when solar farms cease producing, makes it difficult to turn off natural gas power in California. California must quickly replace this power with natural gas and hydropower.
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For this purpose, the state is quickly building large battery projects. This will allow power generated during daylight to be stored for sunset. It’s only a fraction of what is needed.
This is a sign that even though California and over a dozen other states are working towards long-term goals to get 100% clean energy year round, it’s not an easy task to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.
Arne Olsen is senior partner at Energy + Environmental Economics. He says that until there is a replacement for natural gas generation, their role will not disappear. The good news is that adding wind, solar and batteries to the current grid can take you a long way.
California’s springtime is a great time to use renewable energy. Solar energy is growing as the days get longer. The wind power and hydropower from the dams is producing electricity. Due to mild temperatures, air conditioners don’t need to be turned on.
Grid operators at California Independent System Operator (ISO), that serves approximately 80% of California, had enough electricity from solar and wind to satisfy all their needs for about an hour on April 30, 2013. Some of this power was exported to other Western States.
“That’s quite an achievement because it shows that if you can do this for one hour, it can be done for longer periods of times,” Mark Rothleder senior vice president at California ISO.
Due to the rapid expansion of solar farms, records have been falling consistently in spring for the past few years. Since 2005, the state has seen more than a tripled increase in renewable energy. This includes solar panels that are placed on rooftops. 63% of the state’s electricity came from carbon-free sources in 2019, including renewables and nuclear.
However, natural gas power stations still generated about 10% of California ISO’s electricity at the time of the record falling. This includes power exported from California. These power plants are vital for keeping the lights on at night.
Solar power quickly disappears from the grid when the sun sets. This means that grid operators will need to find other sources of electricity. To ensure that the whole system does not fail, supply and demand must be kept in balance.
California uses hydropower, natural gas power plants, and imports from other states to replace the sun at sunset. However, large natural gas plants are huge industrial facilities and are not designed to be turned on quickly. They can take up to 8 hours to turn on. This is why it’s important to have them running throughout the day in order to be able to use them at sunset.
Rothleder states, “We back them up as far as possible.” “Anything below that we would have to turn them off. The decision is that you might not have them if they are turned off.
This means that even though there is plenty of solar power, natural gas power still plays a part in the energy mix. On some days, however, solar farms may be told to shut down because there is too much power.
California is currently working to store more renewable energy during the day, so that it can be available in the evening. California is home to large battery plants. In the last two years, California’s energy storage has increased 200%.
Shannon Eddy, executive Director of the Large-Scale Solar Association, stated that “the more storage we can get online that can charge by solar, the greater our chances of making sure that it’s clean when it is most needed,”
However, even though batteries make up only a fraction of the power needed for the sun to set, they are still only a small percentage. Despite the state’s ambitious climate goals, the natural gas sector isn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.
Alex Makler, Calpine Corporation’s senior vice president for West, stated that “we very much support innovation and new technology” and said, “We very much believe in decarbonizing our grid.” He also runs several natural gas plants in California. “But there are some things that the natural gas fleet does well and cannot easily or economically be replaced.”
Studying how California can achieve 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045, it was found that natural gas will still play an important role for many decades. According to the state, most natural gas power plants will still be operating in 2045, even though the goal has been met.
This is because the law requires that 100% of retail electricity sales be carbon-free. It only covers power that reaches customers. California generates more electricity than the rest of the country, as around 15% of power is lost in transmission before it can be sold.
This means that natural gas power plants could continue to operate in 2045 even if the state reaches the 100% benchmark. However, there is a loophole which allows around 15% of the power generated not to have carbon emissions.
As renewable energy in California grows, natural gas power plants are less used. This means that there is less revenue for these companies. However, in California’s energy market power plants are paid not only for their electricity production, but also for being available for state emergencies. This revenue stream is increasingly important to natural gas plants.
Makler states that “we expect that the natural gas generators’ role will continue to evolve.” Makler says that they will be providing electricity in large quantities, but also providing insurance products aEUR. This is the amount of available capacity to ensure reliability.
California’s fossil fuel companies know that their time is running out. Makler at Calpine says that they are working on projects to make natural gas projects more carbon-free. One pilot project would capture carbon emissions before they escape to the atmosphere and cause global warming. In some of their facilities, they are also considering using renewable hydrogen fuel in place of natural gas.
Experts in energy say that storage and renewable energy will help California and other states make the transition to a carbon-free electricity supply.
Mark Specht, Western States energy manager at Union of Concerned Scientists, says that “we should be doing everything possible to build huge amounts of sun, huge amounts of wind and huge amounts of energy storage, and that’s going will get us at least 90% of the way to a clean network.” It’s the last 5-10 percent that it gets more difficult.
California might need to develop new technologies in order to completely eliminate fossil fuels. In the event of prolonged cloudy or non-existent wind, energy storage projects might need to be able to store energy for days instead of hours. Because wind power produces electricity more reliably at night, it could play a greater role.
California must increase its renewable energy production at an unprecedented rate to reach its goals. It will be 3x faster to build solar and wind projects than they are currently. Eight times more time is needed to build battery projects. Trade disputes and shortages in supply chain could slow down the state’s progress.
Eddy states, “We need to find a way out of gas.” “We are moving in the right direction, and I am pretty certain we will get there. But it may take some time.
