The California Duck Curve -- Re-Visited -- March 6, 2017

See if you can find the word "dispatch" as in "dispatchable" on this page. 

This is pretty cool. This has to do with the post of just a couple of days ago regarding $1,000 / MWH electricity in California (vs the typical $30 / MWH cost). We've talked about incredibly high spikes in the cost of electricity in New England during the winter due to misguided energy policies; I forget, but I think we were talking of $300 - $800 / MWH spikes in price that can often occur overnight during cold snaps in New England.

In California, because of the reliance on solar and wind energy, those spikes can go upwards of $1,000/MWH.

Today, a reader sent me this link from The Economist of all things. Bottom line is this:

• California peak electricity use is between 3:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
• solar energy "prematurely" peaks out at noon
• peak wind energy doesn't kick in until later in the evening /night

This is called a "duck curve." We talked about the "CALIFORNIA DUCK CURVE" on October, 22, 2015.

That was from Bloomberg. It looks like the folks over at The Economist finally got around to reporting it.