Changing Energy Use in California

As more solar and wind electric generating capacity is added in California, the electric grid operator for the state is seeing an increasingly different net load shape. Utility-scale solar now represents more than 10% of the system’s 2014 year-to-date hourly peak demand, more than two-thirds higher than the peak hourly solar output level in 2013. Check out this article for further information.

 In the past few year, California’s legislature, public utilities commission and the utility grid operator (CAISO) have initiated a number of policies and framework that could mitigate challenges associated with this changing net load shape. The state has enacted legislation on the time-of-use pricing and demand response. This confirms our climate change adaptation and mitigation research from MC3 that strong provincial legislation and innovative policy development is critical for accelerating local innovation.

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