swajames

Right now we're using 31,447 MW statewide with a predicted peak of 37,417 MW at 6:45pm against an available capacity of 56,440 MW.

Of the 31,447 MW current demand, 66% is being generated by renewable sources, and 90% of that is from solar.

Striker223

How much is imported from out of state?

swajames

Zero.Per the real time data, the CA grid is currently exporting power out of state.

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Seems like it's more of a storage issue than a generation issue at this point

swajames

Yes, that's definitely a big piece of it. The CA grid does have a lot of battery storage, They have been charging since 7am this morning, and peaked at a charge rate of over 6,000 MW mid morning. They will probably flip to discharging into the grid by mid afternoon.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

found this map which is enlightening.



asking cuz i don't know, is 'capacity' the max production output, or how much the grid can handle? and if as you say california doesn't need outside electricity, why does frank say in nevada he gets notices to cut back to california can get the juice?

swajames

Capacity is the energy that could be generated excluding solar, wind etc (in other words what the power stations can produce). In practice, it does get supplemented by wind and solar etc.

On the import question, California was exporting this morning but at other times we import. So it works in all directions. The point of a grid is that energy can flow to where it's needed. CA overall does generates a lot more than it imports.

The only state not on the national grid is Texas. They have their own. It hasn't worked out particularly well for them.

As an aside, I think there should be more nuclear power generation. My father in law was an engineer and he worked in the nuclear power industry for almost all of his career.

AJT123

CA will walk back the 2035 crap.

End of story.

link13

We still have rolling blackout warnings every Summer in July and August and have been affected by them several times over the past 15 years, so while the stats about the health and capacity of the electrical grid are interesting, the performance of the grid leaves a lot to be desired. My point is that if you are going to force EVs on people (which is a mistake in my opinion), you need to plan for it and strengthen the grid now to support increasing demand on the grid.

I am all for EVs but do not want one at this point. It’s my opinion that the government putting these deadlines in place is not helping EV adoption. There’s no data on it because it hasn’t happened yet. It’s just that making EVs that are appealing and affordable is more likely to spark interest than having the federal and state governments saying you will do this by X date.

swajames

The build out of the grid and expanding the capacity to generate energy is a work in progress. No one is claiming that today's capacity could support tomorrow's demand. The network will need to be built out, and it will - it's one of the things specifically included in the two infrastructure bills. My point was that overall there is more than sufficient capacity to support current demand, and it's not unreasonable to believe the ongoing build out will be sufficient to support tomorrow. And I know you know this, but some seemingly don't - ICE cars aren't going anywhere. Even if things do come to pass and ICE sales are prohibited post-2035, that only affects new car sales going forward. ICE cars will still likely represent the majority of cars on the road, at least until the older ones start to fall out of service. You'll be able to buy and drive ICE cars for the foreseeable future. So the grid does not need to be built out to a level that could support 100% EV market adoption in 2035 and assume that everyone will have an EV by then. It needs to be built out to support only the likely demand in 2035 and beyond. That's a smaller delta, and manageable.

situman

I dont understand CA. From the EV mandate to legally stealing anything under $900 or whatevers...Does anybody actually think things through? They are all about human rights. Where's my right to choose to not buy an EV? Where's my right to not get robbed?

swajames

The only significance of $950 is that is the threshold (whether single incident or cumulatively) for grand theft and thus potentially chargeable as a felony and eligible for much bigger penalties and sentences. There's a bill to reduce it to $450. But no, theft isn't legal.

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Starting to get political. Let's tone it down

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

besides that ONE freak winter storm that cause a huge outage, how has it not worked out well?

and texas is the size of france. it's big enough to have its own grid.

swajames

”Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”