This is what happens when you have way too many government regulations coming from bureaucrats rather than the professions who do this for a living
California’s Battery Problems Heighten Threat of Power Outages
The batteries that help fortify California’s electric grid are kicking in at times when they’re not really needed, draining the power source before more critical junctures and heightening the chances of blackouts as a blistering heat wave punishes the state.
Batteries help to store extra electricity, generated by solar or hydropower. That surplus is supposed to act as a cushion for times when those intermittent renewable sources are running low. But the grid uses a pricing mechanism to trigger the batteries, rather than basing it on pure demand levels. That can lead to mismatches.
That’s exactly what happened on Tuesday, when the state declared a grid emergency and only narrowly avoided major power outages.
Batteries began discharging in the middle of the afternoon, when there was still plenty of solar power and other supplies available to meet electricity demand. That depleted the cushion before it was more critically needed in the early evening, when the state was on the brink of rotating blackouts as demand hit an all-time record and solar supplies started dropping as the sun set. If it weren’t for a timely emergency mobile-phone alert calling on Californians to conserve power immediately, swaths of the state could have been plunged into darkness.
Did not one say at some point “hey, perhaps we should change the usage priority?” If they did, were they shut down?
While blackouts were averted on Tuesday, the battery situation points to a deeper issue with the grid that could continue to exacerbate the risk of outages until it’s resolved. On Wednesday afternoon, the state’s grid operator ratcheted its energy emergency to the second of three levels after 1 p.m. local time and once again warned California could face power shortfalls.
The reason for Tuesday’s earlier-than-expected deployment of batteries likely has to do with market signals. The way the California power market is set up now, energy storage systems are called upon to dispatch by the grid operator when the wholesale power price hits a cap of $1,000 a megawatt-hour, said Cody Hill, senior vice president of battery systems at Rev Renewables, a renewable energy and storage company.
And that is set by government, not the energy companies. Government’s have way, way, way too much control over the energy sector.
Yesterday we rallied together during this historic heatwave. Today, let’s do it again.
We are now in a Flex Alert.
Here’s what to do until 9pm tonight:
– Set thermostats to 78
– Turn off unnecessary lights
– Avoid using large appliances— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 8, 2022
Just wondering, did any reporter go to the governor’s mansion and ask to see the thermostat? See if the lights were on? Using large appliances?
Fun Fact.
Russia shuts off the gas to the EU and Sells it to China.
China then sells it to the EU for a 400-500 percent markup.
It is really sad for the USA under Biden to look this pathetically weak on the international front.
Meanwhile, the USA announces another 2 billion in military weapons to Ukraine as the United States stockpile of weapons and ammo continues to dwindle into oblivion.
Across Europe, protests are beginning in full force against respective governments demanding an end to Ukrainian sanctions and a return to heat and A/C. Orchestrated by Russia? Perhaps but does it matter? 100’s of thousands of people are joining the movement in several EU countries.
Meanwhile, Gavin Newsome shows up wearing a cashmere long-sleeved sweater telling people to buck up and take one for the AGW TEAM in 100-degree heat. I guess its COLD INSIDE HIS OFFICE, while the rest of Californians must bear the pain of AGW for HIM.
Cheer up Hairy/Dowd this is what you have to look forward to in your Utopia of NO fossil fuels.
Looks like the dems have had enough. The dem Clark County Nevada Public Administrator Robert Telles was arrested for murdering Jeff German, an investigative reporter who was found deceased on Sunday. German had published an expose detailing hostile work environment complaints lodged by Telles’ employees and outing his affair with a staffer shortly before Nevada’s primary, in which Telles lost his re-election bid. German was working on another story about Telles at the time he was murdered.
Is every dem in every state a sex perv and corrupt or is this just a coincidence?
A Utah Republican lawmaker who serves as an attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints instructed a Mormon bishop not to report a confession of child sex abuse to law enforcement. Utah Republican State Rep. Merrill F. Nelson helped the Mormon Church cover up ongoing sexual of three daughters by their father. The Church denied access to lawyers for the children.
An AP report suggested it was one of many cases in which church elders were aware of abuse and did not act. LDS subsequently released a statement clarifying church elders can punish child sex abusers with ex-communication.
HAHAHAHA. That’s so cute. They think “calls for conservation” work. It didn’t work when Jimmy Carter did it either.
Same thing with water conservation. As long as water comes out of the tap, people will be washing their cars and watering their golf courses and overall, it won’t matter because agriculture will be sucking them dry no matter what they do.
Now, if only there was some clue that this was going to happen…
Looks like the batteries are working as intended: adding power when there isn’t enough to meet demand.
I have my thermostat set at 72 and Gov. Nuisance can KMA. I worked outdoors since 1974 and recently retired from that B.S.. I’m not going to sweat in my house. The power goes out, my 16 kw Generac will run everything necessary here.
Sounds like a software problem.
Sounds like most anything the gummint runs.
