According to pv magazine International
Recent research from Stanford University has shown that California could rely heavily on renewable energy to cover its electricity demand, without the risk of power outages or energy price hikes. The study results are available in the article, “No Power Outages or Increased Costs with 100% Clean, Renewable Electricity Powering California for Part of 98 Days,” recently published in Renewable Energy.
“Our work shows that the main grid of the world’s fifth largest economy could provide more than 100% of the electricity it uses from just four clean, renewable energy sources: solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal energy, for a period of 5 minutes to more than 10 hours per day for 98 days out of 116 days in late winter, spring and early summer, as well as for 132 days throughout the year 2024, without the grid going down,” Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and lead author of the study, told pv magazine.
According to the study, the growth of solar, wind and battery storage led to a reduction in fossil gas use of 40% during the 116-day period and 25% over the entire period. he year 2024 compared to 2023. “Compared to 2023, solar, wind and battery capacities have increased significantly, with batteries having doubled their capacity,” Jacobson added. “In fact, batteries covered up to 12% of nighttime demand during the period studied. The 25% reduction in gas usage on the CAISO network in just one year indicates that the complete phase-out of gas is imminent. It also discredits the myth that gas use must increase with the rise of renewables on the grid. »
Mark Jacobson also explained that high electricity prices in California have nothing to do with renewable energy. “Without renewable energy, prices would have been higher,” he added. “In fact, 10 of the 11 U.S. states with a greater share of their demand driven by renewable energy have among the lowest electricity prices in the United States. In California, on the other hand, the spot price of electricity fell by more than 50% during the period of interest between 2023 and 2024, showing that it was easier to match supply and demand with the increase in renewables and batteries in 2024.”
According to Jacobson, electricity prices in California are high for several reasons unrelated to renewable energy. These include high fossil gas prices, the transfer to customers of the costs of wildfires due to sparks from transmission lines, the cost of burying transmission lines to reduce such fires, the costs of disasters San Bruno and Aliso Canyon gas plants, the costs of upgrading gas lines after San Bruno, the cost of upgrading aging transmission and distribution lines, and the cost of maintaining the nuclear power plant from Diablo Canyon.
“In summary, the available data shows that increasing the share of wind, solar and hydropower reduces electricity prices across the United States,” says Mark Jacobson. When prices are high, it’s not because of renewable energy.” The researchers concluded by saying that building an energy system based exclusively on renewables could be technically difficult but economically feasible, with solar panels and batteries installed behind the meter helping to reduce the remaining use of fossil gas facing to a growing demand for electricity. Additionally, they estimate that nighttime demand could be met by offshore wind, which peaks in the evening and summer in California, as well as by shifting more hydropower to nighttime rather than daytime, and by using demand response more efficiently.
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