Updates
July 25, 2017: update from EIA today.
Original Post
This is how intermittent, non-dispatchable solar energy is affecting California electric rates:
Big users of daytime electricity are government offices, businesses, manufacturing plants: they tap into the electricity grid when rates are lowest.
Big users of electricity early in the morning (6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.) and in the evening (5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.) are residential users. I would wager that 80% of a home's electricity use comes in those eight hours each day.
And look how much worse it is getting as the mandates take effect: compare the spread in 2017 vs the spread in 2016.
Even worse, the only real benefit of solar energy (and it would still be more expensive than coal) is between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. -- only 6 hours in a 24-hour period, or 1/4th of the total day.
This is not rocket science.
By the way, they used to refer to this evening spike in prices, the "California duck curve." Time to start calling it what it is: "Twin Peaks." And a high price to pay to "feel good."
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A selfie from southern California
July 24, 2017
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