Solar output records tumble across the US from east coast to west coast

Many eyes trained on the scale and speed of the green energy transition have been focused on California in recent weeks, where its run of reaching a peak of more than 100 per cent renewables has extended to 18 out of the past 19 days, and 11 days in a row.

That stunning share of local demand has interesting portents for the future of the grid, and decisions about storage, more wind and what else has the flexibility and speed to fill in the remaining gaps.

But it’s not the only place in the US setting new renewable records. In Texas, the local grid, known as Ercot, is also setting new records for solar and renewables output.

According to the excellent Grid Status website, the output of solar in Texas reached a new peak of 18.35 gigawatts on Tuesday (US time). Just two days earlier, the combination of renewables relative to local load in Texas reached a new peak of 0.73 – or 73 per cent instantaneous renewables penetration.

As Jonathon Blackburn, US-based clean energy financier, noted on LinkedIn: “We used to worry that even 20 per cent intermittent renewables would break the grid; now we routinely deliver a majority of generation through our abundant, clean, and inexpensive Texas wind and solar.”

And it wasn’t the only US grid achieving new records.

Over in the mid-west, the MISO grid (Midcontinent Independent System Operator), which supplies power to 45 million people in 15 states, set a new combined renewable output record of 27. 7 GW.

It had set a new solar peak of 5.7 GW a day earlier, and on Tuesday also set a new output for wind energy with 24.9 GW.

In the north east of the US, the PJM grid on Monday reported a new solar output peak of 6.6 GW, while in the New York grid behind the meter solar hit a new peak of 3.6GW.

In New England, the Isone grid posted a new behind the meter solar peak of 5.7 GW over the weekend, along with new peaks for utility scale wind and solar.