Skip to main content
Donate

New Solar Records in California This Week

By Chris Clarke
August 9, 2013
Support Provided By
hunter-ligget-solar-8-9-13-thumb-600x397-57436
Solar canopies at a Fort Hunter Liggett construction site | Photo: John Prettyman, US Army Corps of Engineers

California just broke another solar power record this week: for the first time in its history, more than 2,500 megawatts of electricity from the sun flowed into the state's power distribution grid. And that's not even counting juice from small rooftop arrays.

The California Independent System Operator has made that record official:

That's after a previous record of 2,495 megawatts set on Wednesday.

What's more, it looks as though the state may have blown way past that record Friday, as preliminary figures from CaISO shown in graphic form seem to indicate a jump of aboout 100 megawatts since Thursday:

ems_renewables8-9-13-thumb-600x328-57434
Renewable energy figures for August 9,, 2013 | Image: CaISO

That graph is automatically generated, and Friday's new record must be verified by one of CaISO's many human employees before we take it as gospel. In addition, these records don't include solar panels installed behind electric meters, which CaISO can't track. There's at least 1,600 megawatts of those in the state.

And as we pretty much always point out, California's capacity lags well behind unlikely competitors such as unsunny Germany, which had 34 gigawatts of solar generating capacity a month ago.

Still, it's always fun to note the passing of zeros as the California solar nerd odometer rolls over.

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News