A series of storms rolled south across California this week from the Gulf of Alaska and tapped into warm wet atmospheric streams coming from the area around Hawaii. It was cloudy and wet throughout the Golden State.
This affected electricity generation especially wind and solar. When the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine these renewable energy providers suffer.
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) measures the output from renewable energy providers to the State grid. As you can see in the graphs above there was enough sun to energize solar panels for just 10 hours and it never got windy for very long. The weather wasn't cooperating for the variable renewables.
However, geothermal energy was still plugging away, supplying a constant supply of clean, dependable, renewable energy 24/7, 365 days a year.
In fact, yesterday in California, geothermal energy was the biggest provider of electricity to the CAISO grid, with over 24,009 MWh. Overnight winds produced 23,120 MWh, solar energy (PV and thermal) peaked before midday and only supplied 18,252 MWh.
Geothermal energy was the number one renewable energy provider - and this is not the only day when it supports the economy here in California.
