You could also say that the older units have been reliable for a long time and are bulletproof compared to the modern units that have very thin engineering margins and are fare more complex. Of course I want reliable power, but just because 5% of our resources are old doesn't necessarily mean anything. Are they less efficient, yes, but they can still be reliable

Light rain and clouds here north of DFW Airport. Should really help out with the grid load today.

Looks like ERCOT is going to set an all time high in electricity generation today. 80,150 MW is the record set last year and we got up to 79,400 last Tuesday and 79,250 yesterday. The all time high will last one day and should be set again tomorrow and then again on Wednesday.

https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

it's amazing to me that solar has had as much penetration into the grid as quickly as it has. does anyone know if that 12 GW number includes residential panels, or is that only utility scale?

only installed and registered utility scale, private owners have been selling back into the grid for a pretty penny recently

Zobel said:

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it's amazing to me that solar has had as much penetration into the grid as quickly as it has. does anyone know if that 12 GW number includes residential panels, or is that only utility scale?

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My educated guess is that it is all utility scale as resi/commercial solar is not dispatch-able into the grid. The utilities are accounting for the residential and commercial solar on their system to schedule power into the Day Ahead Market.

I would argue even the utility scale solar is "non-dispatchable"

You're not kidding. Here's a screenshot from someone on the Tesla plan (not mine)

UninformedInternetBlogger said:

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I would argue even the utility scale solar is "non-dispatchable"

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Probably a good point when it comes to renewable vs standard generation. Wrong use of language.

Thanks Dubya, Aggie Pat, and Enron for destroying reliable electricity in Texas in the name of "choice. Competing on lowest price disincentivized building of adequate base load and standby generation capacity.

BQAg84 said:

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Thanks Dubya, Aggie Pat, and Enron for destroying reliable electricity in Texas in the name of "choice. Competing on lowest price disincentivized building of adequate base load and standby generation capacity.

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Since when is it not reliable? We had a freak storm with sub-zero temps for days. Other than that, I will happily pay for AFFORDABLE electricity.

Maybe you prefer California's approach.

Bird Poo said:

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BQAg84 said:

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Thanks Dubya, Aggie Pat, and Enron for destroying reliable electricity in Texas in the name of "choice. Competing on lowest price disincentivized building of adequate base load and standby generation capacity.

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Since when is it not reliable? We had a freak storm with sub-zero temps for days. Other than that, I will happily pay for AFFORDABLE electricity.

Maybe you prefer California's approach.

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Maybe I prefer Texas when we had regulated utilities. It was affordable, reliable AND simple.