On March 11 , the State of California was make a proverbial shitload of white vim . For the first time in its history , the intact state contract one-half of its total vigor demand from solar mightiness .
As coolheaded as this is , it actually gets dependable . According to the USEnergy Information Administration(EIA ) , for several hours , so much solar index was being get that energy price for consumer turned negative . This meant that there was so much clean energy going around that Californians were effectively fall in money for free for a little while .
How is this even possible ? Well , it comes down to two broker – the efficiency of renewable energy , and the inability to store it .
Despite the projectile vomit of pseudoscientific bull that is streamingalmost continuouslyout of theTrump administrationright now , and therolling backof Obama - era clime change prevention measures , plenty of US state have realized that renewable energy is both good for the economy and the surround .
Solar ability is becoming very cheap and more and more good at converting sunlight into electrical energy , and is turn out a democratic option for states like California . As such , it ’s proliferate across the Golden State , and when the atmospheric condition is specially good , they produce a heck of a pot of their vigor through photovoltaic dialog box alone .
The trouble is that , withfew exceptionsaround the world , you may not currently store renewable push in a true barrage system , so it has to immediately be deploy to the storage-battery grid . When so much of it is being bring forth that it exceeds demand , the vigour is pumped through the grid anyway as extra .
Customers do n’t technically postulate it , so in issue , energy companies “ purchase ” it off them and prices turn negative . Theexact same situationoccurred in Germany back in May last year after wind power production managed to surpass the national need , and consumers were being paid to use electricity .
This unusual phenomenon is fix to become more commonplace as clock time ticktock by as renewable energy continue to proliferate across the US and the wider world . AsQuartzpoint out , this minus pricing is most probable to occur in the Spring , when weather is better and require for both heating plant and cooling is lower than usual .
Either way , this incident is another sign that the global dependency on fossil fuel is graduallycoming to an death . All we need know is someone like Elon Musk to develop a proper storage system for clean energy , and then we ’re set .
