California generated 10% of it's energy via solar in 2015

[veritass]

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/01/11/solar-power-california-top-source-of-renewable-energy

[SunEagle]

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/01/11/...newable-energy

Looks good for the solar business. But what does CA do for power when the sun isn't shining?

[veritass]

Looks good for the solar business. But what does CA do for power when the sun isn't shining?

They only have electricity during the day.

[SunEagle]

They only have electricity during the day.

I know you are kidding but that statement would be true if there isn't another power source.

[sensij]

I haven't read the article, but I'm guessing 90% came from a different power source.

[DanKegel]

Sounds like the guy who runs CalISO is optimistic about being able to handle more:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-14/california-power-grid-seen-able-to-handle-100-renewables

IMHO curtailing solar a few days per year isn't a big deal. We should just keep on building lots more utility-scale solar... having so much solar one has to curtail it frequently would be a great problem to have, it'd help drive demand for storage.

[veritass]

Sounds like the guy who runs CalISO is optimistic about being able to handle more:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-14/california-power-grid-seen-able-to-handle-100-renewables

IMHO curtailing solar a few days per year isn't a big deal. We should just keep on building lots more utility-scale solar... having so much solar one has to curtail it frequently would be a great problem to have, it'd help drive demand for storage.

Excellent article

[Sunking]

Well who cares, California hit a new high for importing power to 36%, up another 2% since last year. CA is going backwards fast and the energy policy is failing big time.

[veritass]

Well who cares, California hit a new high for importing power to 36%, up another 2% since last year. CA is going backwards fast and the energy policy is failing big time.

Good, that means they can avoid transmission costs by installing more solar.

[DanKegel]

Well who cares, California hit a new high for importing power to 36%, up another 2% since last year. CA is going backwards fast and the energy policy is failing big time.

http://energyalmanac.ca.gov/electric...tem_power.html says 2014 imports were down 2.6% from 2013 (due in part to transmission line service problems), doesn't have 2015 data yet.
So if it did go up 2%, that'd still be below 2013. Do you have a link to your source?

I'm not sure why you keep saying Calfornia's energy policy is failing... I suppose http://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclem...e-electricity/ would explain, but it mostly says "electricity is expensive in california". It's true, when you actually fight climate change instead of denying it exists, power might cost a little more, but at least we're working on solving the big problerm rather than ignoring it. And since we waste a lot less electricity than most states, we don't end up paying that much more for our power. You know the old saying: waste not, want not.

[compchat]

My install was finished just before Christmas. Since that time we've had nothing but rain/clouds and it appears because of el nino that we will have that ugly weather through april 2016.

So far this year (Jan) I've made 208 KWh with a 11 KW system.

Typically is solar generation this poor in S. CA during the winter months? Hardly seems like it is worth the investment. What have others generated so far this month (Jan 1-11)?

[J.P.M.]

My install was finished just before Christmas. Since that time we've had nothing but rain/clouds and it appears because of el nino that we will have that ugly weather through april 2016.

So far this year (Jan) I've made 208 KWh with a 11 KW system.

Typically is solar generation this poor in S. CA during the winter months? Hardly seems like it is worth the investment. What have others generated so far this month (Jan 1-11)?

Hard to say if your output is off. It depends on the weather of course, but also on orientation, shading and other factors. I'd check output on a sunny day.

[Logan005]

What is the Max California could generate with solar? 30%, 40%? without some sort of storage, I can't imagine more than 40% since sun only shines less than half of the day.

[veritass]

What is the Max California could generate with solar? 30%, 40%? without some sort of storage, I can't imagine more than 40% since sun only shines less than half of the day.

The grid always had a lot of redundancy in it before solar and wind.

[DanKegel]

Utility-scale solar has a capacity factor of about 25% near Los Angeles, which is a fancy way of saying solar provides energy for about a quarter of the average day. So 25%, I'd say. But with some load shifting, could be a bit higher, even without storage.

Well, that's if load is constant throughout the day. If there's more load while the sun shines, the number's higher.
Looking at http://www.caiso.com/outlook/SystemStatus.html, seems like the peak after sunset doesn't quite fill in the hollow after sundown, so maybe 30%.

But you really don't want to curtail nuclear power plants, and they generate about 9%, so maybe only 21%