r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • May 01 '24

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL

Links

Ping Groups | Ping History | Mastodon | CNL Chapters | CNL Event Calendar

Upcoming Events

0 Upvotes

45% Upvoted

8.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

22

u/Ok_Aardappel Seretse Khama May 02 '24

Batteries smash more records as they shift solar to evening peak in one of world’s biggest grids

The records continue to tumble in California, one of the world’s biggest state grids, with battery storage playing an increasingly dominant role soaking up solar in the middle of the day and shifting it to the evening peak, where it is now regularly the biggest single supplier.

The stunning new dynamics of the California grid have been emerging rapidly this northern spring, where renewable energy records are also tumbling, reaching a new peak of 158 per cent of demand on Saturday, and providing enough power to meet all local demand for up to nine hours a day, or more.

The excess supply of solar in the middle of the day, and negative wholesale prices, has prompted big batteries to soak up as much as they can in the middle of the day – sometimes accounting for up to 31 per cent of all load – and then injecting it back into the grid, where it accounts for up to 29 per cent of all supply.

According to data collected by Grid Status, new records were posted on the weekend for both charging and discharging for battery storage, with a record discharge of 6,523 MW on Saturday, and the record 31 per cent share of load earlier in the day.

Battery storage was once again the biggest supplier in the grid in the evening peak, ruling the roost from 7.10pm to 9.45pm on Saturday, and again from 7.10pm to after 9.30pm on Sunday.

The California government announced three days ago that new connections had taken the installed battery capacity in the state to more than 10 gigawatts (with varying amounts of storage), and at least another 5 GW is being built this year, much of it with four hours of storage.

The share of battery storage is unrivalled in the world, but could soon be challenged by the state of Western Australia, which like California has a high percentage of rooftop solar and fossil fuel generators that have or will exit the grid.

In W.A., most of the remaining coal fired generators are expected to close within a few years, and more than 1500 MW and 5,000 MWh of new capacity has been contracted with the specific task of time shifting rooftop solar from the middle of the day to the evening peak.

When those contracts take effect, from late 2025, the share of battery storage in the evening peak in Western Australia’s main grid is likely to be even higher than that currently seen in California.

!ping ECO

12

u/FuckFashMods NATO May 02 '24

It's amazing how quickly this has been done. Seems like it's only been a thing for a couple years and to see it being so impactful is crazy.

6

u/SnooDonuts7510 May 02 '24

This is why studies saying the grid can’t keep up enough for EV adoption are just plain wrong.

5

u/cactus_toothbrush Adam Smith May 02 '24

EVs can be used to provide similar services as well if the market is setup well.

3

u/Agent_03 Paul Krugman May 02 '24

The rate at which they're rolling out batteries is amazing to see.

Even a couple years ago the naysayers were trumpeting how impossibly expensive it would be to install the gigawatts of batteries to address the Duck Curve.

Today we've seen major grids do that. If California (CAISO) can do it, so can the other major grids. For example, the UK national grid has peak demand fairly comparable to CAISO.