What does it take to reliably operate a very large and very green electric grid? I started to answer these questions at the November retreat of the Sacramento-based Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT).
As the retreat wound up, I still had several unanswered questions about how renewables actually would keep the lights on 24/7. How can a green portfolio actually provide both the lion’s share of energy as well as the so-called reliability services that are essential to keep the grid up and running? There seemed to be a lot hanging on the wonky details flagged by CEERT.
