When California deregulated the utilities, they created the Independent System Operator (ISO) to maintain grid balance between generation and consumption.
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California ISO approaching zero imports
- Thread starter mblakele
- Start date
This is a bit old, but provides the numbers you mentioned. I am still updating this graph, but haven't posted it recently in the thread I use to discuss it. This is using the raw data right out of the ISO website.
RT
California ISO - Supply
I haven't looked at CA ISO much since last year. Nice to see negative imports — including negative coal? Curtailment is pretty high. It looks like we could probably do 100% renewables for much of the day if we could curtail nuclear and natural gas, instead of curtailing solar.
Or if we could increase battery capacity by... oh, about 1000x.
I haven't looked at CA ISO much since last year. Nice to see negative imports — including negative coal? Curtailment is pretty high. It looks like we could probably do 100% renewables for much of the day if we could curtail nuclear and natural gas, instead of curtailing solar.
Or if we could increase battery capacity by... oh, about 1000x.
California ISO - Supply
I haven't looked at CA ISO much since last year. Nice to see negative imports — including negative coal? Curtailment is pretty high. It looks like we could probably do 100% renewables for much of the day if we could curtail nuclear and natural gas, instead of curtailing solar.
Or if we could increase battery capacity by... oh, about 1000x.
I have to start charging my car at noon to eat into that curtailment. That's my takeaway.
RT
P.S. with the reduced consumption of power and some sunny days coming up we will hit 50% renewable in the state. I believe for the first time. I'll check the spreadsheet and see if that's the case.
Good idea. I’ve been charging on early weekend afternoons when possible, to turn some of my NEM2 NBCs into self-consumption while still getting PG&E’s EV-A off-peak rate. I’d get a powerwall too, but so far I can’t make the numbers work.
Too bad Tesla didn't foresee a use case for vehicle to grid, or at least vehicle to home energy flow. Imagine automated charging of Tesla cars during the sunny hours, running homes at night.
It would be interesting to see a calculation of EVs in California, and how much of the curtailment they could absorb. The question of how do you deploy sufficient battery capacity to absorb curtailed renewable power is already being answered by the mass deployment of EVs. With EV sales increasing, it's just a matter of bi-directional flow and smart control.
I would imagine this is eventually coming.
RT
It would be interesting to see a calculation of EVs in California, and how much of the curtailment they could absorb. The question of how do you deploy sufficient battery capacity to absorb curtailed renewable power is already being answered by the mass deployment of EVs. With EV sales increasing, it's just a matter of bi-directional flow and smart control.
I would imagine this is eventually coming.
RT
It's not that they haven't thought about it. Their belief has been that with large scale manufacture of BEVs and low-cost batteries, in addition to cheap PV, the economics and practicalities would ultimately favor smart charging plus dedicated storage.
Right, in sunny locations workplace charging will be highly desirable.
In locations with good wind, it should be relatively easy: go home, plug in and let smart charging do its thing. Not a surprise that the UK government is so supportive of smart chargers.
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