California avoids widespread rolling blackouts as heat strains power grid

Saskatchewan COVID-19 economic impact: real-time data shows drops in electricity demand, oil well licensing, traffic and tickets, plus spikes in internet usage, government site visits, remote work, and alcohol wholesale volumes.

Key Points

COVID-19 reduced energy use, drilling and traffic, while pushing activity online; jobs, rents and sales show strain.

✅ Electricity demand down 6.7%; residential usage up

✅ Oil well license applications fell 15-fold in April

✅ Internet traffic up 16%-46%; wireless LTE up 34%

We’re only just beginning to grasp how COVID-19 has upended Saskatchewan’s economy, its government and all of our lives.

The numbers that usually make headlines — job losses, economic contraction, bankruptcies — are still well behind the pace of the virus and its toll.

But other numbers change more quickly. Saskatchewan people are using less power, and the power industry is adopting on-site staffing plans to ensure reliability as conditions evolve. We’re racking up fewer speeding tickets. And as new restrictions come, we’re clicking onto Saskatchewan.ca as much as 10,000 times per minute.

Here’s some data that provides a first glimpse into how much our province has changed in just six weeks.

Electricity use tends to rise and fall in tandem with the health of the economy, and the most recent data from SaskPower suggests businesses are powering down, while regional utilities such as Manitoba Hydro seek unpaid days off to trim costs.

Peak load requirements between March 15 and April 26 were 220 MW lower than during the same period in 2019, and elsewhere BC Hydro is posting COVID-19 updates at Site C as it manages project impacts. That’s a decrease of 6.7 per cent, with total load on April 29 at 2,551 MW. A megawatt is enough electricity to power about 1,000 homes.

Separate from pandemic impacts, an external investigation at Manitoba Hydro has drawn attention to workplace conduct issues.

But it’s not homes that are turning off the lights. SaskPower spokesman Joel Cherry said commercial and industrial usage is down, while residential demand is up, with household electricity bills rising as more people stay home.

The timing of power demand has also shifted, a pattern seen as residential electricity use rises during work-from-home routines. Peak load would usually come around 8 or 9 p.m. in April. Now it’s coming earlier, typically between 5 and 6 p.m.

Oil well applications fall 15-fold
Oil prices have cratered since late February, and producers in Saskatchewan have reacted by pulling back on drilling plans, while neighbouring Alberta provides transition support for coal workers amid broader energy shifts.

Applications for well licences fell from 242 in January to 203 in February (including nine potash and one helium operations), before dropping to 84 in March. April, the month benchmark oil prices went negative for one day, producers submitted just 15 applications.

That’s 15 times fewer than the 231 applications the Ministry of Energy and Resources received in April 2019.

Well licences are needed for drilling, operating, injecting, producing or exploring an oil and gas or potash well in the province.

There has been no clear trend in well abandonment, however. There were 176 applications for abandonment in March and 155 in April, roughly in line with figures from the year before.

SGI spokesman Tyler McMurchy believes the lower numbers might stem from a combination of lower traffic volumes during part of the month, possibly combined with a shift in police priorities. The March 2020 numbers are also well below January and February figures.

Indeed, the Ministry of Highways and infrastructure reported a 16 per cent decrease in average daily traffic last month compared to March 2019, through its traffic counts at 11 different spots on highways across the province.

In Regina, traffic counts at 16 locations dropped from a high of 2.1 million in the first week of March to a low of 1.3 million during the week of March 22. That’s a 44 per cent decrease.

Counts have gradually recovered to 1.6 million in the weeks since. The data was fairly consistent at all 16 spots, which are largely major intersections, though the city cautioned they may not be representative of Regina as a whole.

Tickets for cellphone use while driving also fell, dropping from 562 in February to 314 in March. McMurchy noted that distracted driving numbers in general have been falling since November as stiffer penalties were announced. Impaired driving tickets were up, by contrast, but still within a typical range.

Internet traffic shoots up 16 per cent, far more for rural high speed
You may be spending a lot more time on Netflix and Facebook in the age of social distancing, and SaskTel has noticed.

From late February to late April, SaskTel has seen “very significant increases in provincial data traffic.” DSL and fibre optic networks have handled a 16 per cent increase in traffic, while demand on the wireless LTE network is up 34 per cent.

Usage on the Fusion network up 46 per cent. That network serves rural areas that don’t have access to other high-speed options.

The specific reference dates for comparison were February 24 and April 27.

“We attribute these changes in data usage to the pandemic and not expected seasonal or yearly shifts in usage patterns,” said spokesman Greg Jacobs.

Saskatchewan.ca was attracting just 70 page views per minute on average in February. But page views jumped over 10,000 per minute at 2:38 p.m. on March 18, as Moe was still announcing the new measures.

That’s a 14,000 per cent increase.

For all of March, visitor sessions on the site clocked in at 3,905,061, almost four times the 944,904 recorded for February.

Bureaucracy has increasingly migrated to cyberspace, with 62 per cent of civil servants now working from home. Government Skype calls, both audio and video, have tripled from 12,000 sessions per day to 35,000.Telephone conference calls increased by a factor of 14 from the first week of February to the second full week of April, with 25 times more weekly call participants. 

The Ministry of Central Services reported a 17 per cent jump in emails received by government over the past two months, excluding the Ministry of Health.

But as civil servants spend more time on their computers, the government’s fleet is spending a lot less time on the road. The ministry has purchased 40 per cent fewer litres of fuel for its vehicles over the past four weeks, compared to the same time last year.

Alcohol wholesale volumes up 22 per cent, then fall back to normal
Retailers bought more alcohol from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) last month, just as the government began tightening pandemic restrictions.

Wholesale sales volumes were up 22 per cent over March 15 to 28, compared to the same period in 2019. SLGA spokesman David Morris said the additional demand “was likely the result of retailers stocking-up as restrictions related to COVID-19 took effect.”

But the jump didn’t last. Wholesale volumes were back to normal for the first two weeks of April. SLGA did notice a very slight uptick last week, however, with volumes out of its distribution centre up three per cent. The numbers do not include Brewer’s Distributors Ltd.

It’s unclear how much more alcohol consumers actually purchased, since province-wide retail numbers were not available.

There was no discernible trend in March for anti-anxiety medication, however. The number of prescriptions filled for benzodiazepines like Valium, Xanax and Ativan see-sawed over March, according to data provided by the College of Physicians and Surgeons, but its associate registrar does not believe the trends are statistically relevant.

One-fifth of tenants miss April rent
About 20 per cent of residential rent went totally unpaid in the first six days of April, according to the Saskatchewan Landlord Association (SLA).

The precise number is 19.7 per cent, but there’s some uncertainty due to the survey method, which is based on responses from 300 residential landlords with 14,000 units. An additional 12 per cent of tenants paid a portion of their rent, but not the full amount. The figures do not include social housing.

Cameron Choquette, the association’s executive officer, partly blames the province’s decision to suspend most landlord tenant board hearings for evictions, saying it “allows more people to take advantage of landlords by not paying their rent and not facing any consequences.”

The government has defended the suspension by saying it’s needed to ensure everyone has a safe place to self-isolate if needed during the pandemic.

March’s jobs numbers were bad, with almost 21,000 fewer Saskatchewan people employed compared to February.

April’s labour force survey is expected on Friday. But new April numbers released Wednesday show that two-thirds of the province’s businesses managed to avoid laying off staff almost entirely.

According to Statistics Canada, 66.2 per cent of businesses reported laying off between zero and one per cent of their employees due to COVID-19. That was better than any other province. Just 7.6 per cent laid off all of their employees, again the best number outside the territories. The survey period was April 3 to 24.

Some businesses are even hiring. Walmart, for instance, has hired 300 people in Saskatchewan since mid-March.

Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison chalked the data up to a relatively more optimistic business outlook in Saskatchewan, combined with “very targeted” restrictions and a support program for small and medium businesses.

That support program, which provides $5,000 grants to qualifying businesses affected by government restrictions, has only been around for three weeks. But it’s already been bombarded with 6,317 applications.

The total value of those applications would be $24,178,000, according to Harrison. Of them, 3,586 have been approved with a value of $11,755,000.

Businesses are coming to Harrison’s ministry with thousands of questions. Since it opened in March, the Business Response Team has received 4,125 calls and 1,758 emails.

The kinds of questions have changed over the course of the pandemic. Many are now asking when they can open their doors, according to Harrison, as they wonder about “grey areas” in the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan.

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Air-gen Protein Nanowire Generator delivers clean energy by harvesting ambient humidity via Geobacter-derived conductive nanowires, generating continuous hydrovoltaic electricity through moisture gradients, electrodes, and proton diffusion for sustainable, low-waste power in diverse climates.

Key Points

A device using Geobacter protein nanowires to harvest humidity, producing continuous DC power via proton diffusion.

✅ 7 micrometer film between electrodes adsorbs water vapor.

✅ Output: ~0.5 V, 17 uA/cm2; stack units to scale power.

✅ Geobacter optimized via engineered E. coli for mass nanowires.

They found it buried in the muddy shores of the Potomac River more than three decades ago: a strange "sediment organism" that could do things nobody had ever seen before in bacteria.

This unusual microbe, belonging to the Geobacter genus, was first noted for its ability to produce magnetite in the absence of oxygen, but with time scientists found it could make other things too, like bacterial nanowires that conduct electricity.

For years, researchers have been trying to figure out ways to usefully exploit that natural gift, and they might have just hit pay-dirt with a device they're calling the Air-gen. According to the team, their device can create electricity out of… well, almost nothing, similar to power from falling snow reported elsewhere.

"We are literally making electricity out of thin air," says electrical engineer Jun Yao from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "The Air-gen generates clean energy 24/7."

The claim may sound like an overstatement, but a new study by Yao and his team describes how the air-powered generator can indeed create electricity with nothing but the presence of air around it. It's all thanks to the electrically conductive protein nanowires produced by Geobacter (G. sulfurreducens, in this instance).

The Air-gen consists of a thin film of the protein nanowires measuring just 7 micrometres thick, positioned between two electrodes, referencing advances in near light-speed conduction in materials science, but also exposed to the air.

Because of that exposure, the nanowire film is able to adsorb water vapour that exists in the atmosphere, offering a contrast to legacy hydropower models, enabling the device to generate a continuous electrical current conducted between the two electrodes.

The team says the charge is likely created by a moisture gradient that creates a diffusion of protons in the nanowire material.

"This charge diffusion is expected to induce a counterbalancing electrical field or potential analogous to the resting membrane potential in biological systems," the authors explain in their study.

"A maintained moisture gradient, which is fundamentally different to anything seen in previous systems, explains the continuous voltage output from our nanowire device."

The discovery was made almost by accident, when Yao noticed devices he was experimenting with were conducting electricity seemingly all by themselves.

"I saw that when the nanowires were contacted with electrodes in a specific way the devices generated a current," Yao says.

"I found that exposure to atmospheric humidity was essential and that protein nanowires adsorbed water, producing a voltage gradient across the device."

Previous research has demonstrated hydrovoltaic power generation using other kinds of nanomaterials – such as graphene-based systems now under study – but those attempts have largely produced only short bursts of electricity, lasting perhaps only seconds.

By contrast, the Air-gen produces a sustained voltage of around 0.5 volts, with a current density of about 17 microamperes per square centimetre, and complementary fuel cell solutions can help keep batteries energized, with a current density of about 17 microamperes per square centimetre. That's not much energy, but the team says that connecting multiple devices could generate enough power to charge small devices like smartphones and other personal electronics – concepts akin to virtual power plants that aggregate distributed resources – all with no waste, and using nothing but ambient humidity (even in regions as dry as the Sahara Desert).

"The ultimate goal is to make large-scale systems," Yao says, explaining that future efforts could use the technology to power homes via nanowire incorporated into wall paint, supported by energy storage for microgrids to balance supply and demand.

"Once we get to an industrial scale for wire production, I fully expect that we can make large systems that will make a major contribution to sustainable energy production."

If there is a hold-up to realising this seemingly incredible potential, it's the limited amount of nanowire G. sulfurreducens produces.

Related research by one of the team – microbiologist Derek Lovley, who first identified Geobacter microbes back in the 1980s – could have a fix for that: genetically engineering other bugs, like E. coli, to perform the same trick in massive supplies.

"We turned E. coli into a protein nanowire factory," Lovley says.

"With this new scalable process, protein nanowire supply will no longer be a bottleneck to developing these applications."

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Rooftop solar grids transform urban infrastructure with distributed generation, photovoltaic panels, smart grid integration and energy storage, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, lowering utility costs, enabling net metering and community solar for low-carbon energy systems.

Key Points

Rooftop solar grids are PV systems on buildings that generate power, cut emissions, and enable smart grid integration.

✅ Lowers utility bills via net metering and demand offset

✅ Reduces greenhouse gases and urban air pollution

✅ Enables resiliency with storage, smart inverters, and microgrids

As urban areas expand and the climate crisis intensifies, cities are seeking innovative ways to integrate renewable energy sources into their infrastructure. One such solution gaining traction is the installation of rooftop solar grids. A recent CBC News article highlights the significant impact of these solar systems on urban environments, showcasing their benefits and the challenges they present.

Harnessing Unused Space for Sustainable Energy

Rooftop solar panels are revolutionizing how cities approach energy consumption and environmental sustainability. By utilizing the often-overlooked space on rooftops, these systems provide a practical solution for generating renewable energy in densely populated areas. The CBC article emphasizes that this approach not only makes efficient use of available space but also contributes to reducing a city's reliance on non-renewable energy sources.

The ability to generate clean energy directly from buildings helps decrease greenhouse gas emissions and, as scientists work to improve solar and wind power, promotes a shift towards a more sustainable energy model. Solar panels absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity, reducing the need for fossil fuels and lowering overall carbon footprints. This transition is crucial as cities grapple with rising temperatures and air pollution.

Economic and Environmental Advantages

The economic benefits of rooftop solar grids are considerable. For homeowners and businesses, installing solar panels can lead to substantial savings on electricity bills. The initial investment in solar technology is often balanced by long-term energy savings and financial incentives, such as tax credits or rebates, and evidence that solar is cheaper than grid electricity in Chinese cities further illustrates the trend toward affordability. According to the CBC report, these financial benefits make solar energy a compelling option for many urban residents and enterprises.

Environmentally, the advantages are equally compelling. Solar energy is a renewable and clean resource, and increasing the number of rooftop solar installations can play a pivotal role in meeting local and national renewable energy targets, as illustrated when New York met its solar goals early in a recent milestone. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel energy sources directly contributes to mitigating climate change and improving air quality.

Challenges in Widespread Adoption

Despite the clear benefits, the adoption of rooftop solar grids is not without its challenges. One of the primary hurdles is the upfront cost of installation. While prices for solar panels have decreased over time, the initial financial outlay remains a barrier for some property owners, and regions like Alberta have faced solar expansion challenges that highlight these constraints. Additionally, the effectiveness of solar panels can vary based on factors such as geographic location, roof orientation, and local weather patterns.

The CBC article also highlights the importance of supportive infrastructure and policies for the success of rooftop solar grids. Cities need to invest in modernizing their energy grids to accommodate the influx of solar-generated electricity, and, in the U.S., record clean energy purchases by Southeast cities have signaled growing institutional demand. Furthermore, policies and regulations must support solar adoption, including issues related to net metering, which allows solar panel owners to sell excess energy back to the grid.

Innovative Solutions and Future Prospects

The future of rooftop solar grids looks promising, thanks to ongoing technological advancements. Innovations in photovoltaic cells and energy storage solutions are expected to enhance the efficiency and affordability of solar systems. The development of smart grid technology and advanced energy management systems, including peer-to-peer energy sharing, will also play a critical role in integrating solar power into urban infrastructures.

The CBC report also mentions the rise of community solar projects as a significant development. These projects allow multiple households or businesses to share a single solar installation, making solar energy more accessible to those who may not have suitable rooftops for solar panels. This model expands the reach of solar technology and fosters greater community engagement in renewable energy initiatives.

Conclusion

Rooftop solar grids are emerging as a key element in the transition to sustainable urban energy systems. By leveraging unused rooftop space, cities can harness clean, renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and, as developers learn that more energy sources make better projects, achieve long-term economic savings. While there are challenges to overcome, such as initial costs and regulatory hurdles, the benefits of rooftop solar grids make them a crucial component of the future energy landscape. As technology advances and policies evolve, rooftop solar grids will play an increasingly vital role in shaping greener, more resilient urban environments.

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Coal-to-Clean Energy Hubs leverage Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to repurpose mine lands with microgrids, advanced nuclear, carbon capture, and rare earth processing, boosting energy security, jobs, and grid modernization.

Key Points

They are federal projects converting coal communities and mine lands into clean energy hubs, repurposing infrastructure.

✅ DOE demos on mine lands: microgrids, nuclear, carbon capture.

✅ Funding from BIL, CHIPS and IRA targets energy communities.

✅ Rare earths from coal waste bolster EV supply chains.

The Biden administration is channeling hundreds of millions of dollars in clean energy funding from recent legislation into its efforts to turn coal communities into clean energy hubs, the White House said.

The administration gave an update on its push across agencies to kick-start projects nationwide with funding Congress approved during Biden’s first two years in office. The effort includes $450 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that the Department of Energy will allocate to an array of new clean energy demonstration projects on former mine lands.

“These projects could focus on a range of technologies from microgrids to advanced nuclear to power plans with carbon capture,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on a call with reporters Monday. “They’ll prove out the potential to reactivate or repurpose existing infrastructure like transmission lines and substations across an aging U.S. power grid, and these projects could spur new economic development in these communities.”

Among the projects the White House highlighted, it said $16 million from the infrastructure law will go to the University of North Dakota and West Virginia University to create design studies for the first-ever full-scale refinery facility in the U.S. that could extract and separate rare earth elements and minerals from coal mine waste streams. The materials are critical for electric vehicle-battery components that are currently heavily sourced from outside the U.S.

“Those efforts will pave the way toward building a first of its kind facility that produces essential materials for solar panels, wind turbines, EVs and more while cleaning up polluted land and water and creating good-paying jobs for local workers,” Granholm said.

Biden created an interagency working group focused on revitalizing coal-power communities through federal investments when he took office. In 2021, the group selected 25 priority areas ranging from West Virginia to Wyoming to focus on development, as high natural gas prices strengthened the case for clean electricity. There are nearly 18,000 identified mine sites across 1.5 million acres in the United States, according to the White House.

The massive effort fits into a broader Biden administration push to both fight climate change and support communities that have lost economic activity during a transition away from fossil fuel sources such as coal. While Biden’s most ambitious clean energy plans fell flat in Congress in the face of opposition from Republicans and some Democrats after the previous administration’s power plant overhaul, three major laws still unlocked funding for his administration to deploy.

Many of the initiatives are made possible through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Chips and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, even without a clean electricity standard on the books. The task force aims to make sure communities most affected by the changing energy landscape are taking maximum advantage of the federal benefits.

“Those new and expanded operations are coming to energy communities and creating good paying jobs,” Biden’s senior advisor for clean energy innovation and implementation John Podesta said on the call. “These laws can provide substantial federal support to energy communities like capping abandoned oil and gas wells, extracting critical minerals, building battery factories and launching demonstration projects in carbon capture or green hydrogen.”

The administration touted the potential benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill passed by Democrats to spur clean energy investments last year, even as early assessments show mixed results to date. At the time, U.S. consumers were dealing with decades-high inflation fueled in part by an energy crisis and high gas prices that drove debate — a point Republicans emphasized as the plan moved through Congress.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the Inflation Reduction Act aims to both “lower the deficit, as well as promote our energy security, lowering energy costs for consumers and combatting climate change.”

“As the Treasury works to implement the law, we’re focused on ensuring that all Americans benefit from the growth of the clean energy economy, particularly those who live in communities that have been dependent on the energy sector for job for a long time,” Adeyemo told reporters. “Economic growth and productivity are higher when all communities are able to reach their full potential.”

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Amazon Renewable Energy Projects advance net zero goals with a Scotland wind farm PPA and US solar farms in North Carolina and Virginia, delivering clean power, added capacity, and lower carbon emissions across cloud operations.

Key Points

Amazon initiatives adding wind and solar capacity in the UK and US to cut carbon and power cloud operations.

✅ Largest UK corporate wind PPA on Scotland Kintyre Peninsula

✅ Two US solar farms in North Carolina and Virginia

✅ 265 MW added capacity, 668,997 MWh clean power annually

Amazon is launching three renewable energy projects in the United States and the United Kingdom that support Amazon’s commitment to using net zero carbon energy by 2040.

The U.K. project is a wind farm on the Kintyre Peninsula in Scotland, aligned with a 10 GW renewables contract boosting the U.K. grid. It will generate 168,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of clean energy each year, enough to power 46,000 U.K. homes. It will be the largest corporate wind power purchase agreement (PPA) in the U.K.

Offshore wind energy in the UK is powering up rapidly, complementing onshore developments.

The other two are solar projects – one in Warren County, N.C, and the other in Prince George County, Va, reflecting broader US solar and wind growth trends nationwide. Together, they are expected to generate 500,997 MWh of energy annually. It is Amazon’s second renewable energy project in North Carolina, following the Amazon Wind Farm US East operated by Avangrid Renewables, and eighth in Virginia.

The three new Amazon wind and solar projects – which are expected to be in operation in 2012 — will provide 265 MW of additional renewable capacity, and align with U.K. wind power lessons for the U.S. market nationwide.

“In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, Amazon is committed to minimizing our carbon emissions and reaching 80% renewable energy use across the company by 2024. We’ve announced eight projects this year and have more projects on the horizon – and we’re committed to investing in renewable energy as a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint globally,” Kara Hurst, director of sustainability at Amazon, said. “With nearly 70 renewable energy projects around the globe – including 54 solar rooftops – we are making significant progress towards reaching Amazon’s company-wide commitment to reach 100% renewable energy by 2030.”

Amazon has launched 18 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects to date, and in parallel, Duke Energy Renewables has acquired three California solar projects, underscoring sector momentum. They will generate over 1,600 MW of renewable capacity and deliver more than 4.6 million MWh of clean energy annually. Amazon has also installed more than 50 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers around the world. They generate 98 MW of renewable capacity and deliver 130,000 MWh of clean energy annually.

“Today’s announcement by Amazon is another important step for North Carolina’s clean energy plan that will increase our reliance on renewables and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said. “Not only is this the right thing to do for our planet, it’s the right thing to do for our economy. More clean energy jobs means better jobs for North Carolina families.”

Amazon reports on its sustainability commitments, initiatives, and performance on a new web site the company recently launched. It includes information on Amazon’s carbon footprint and other metrics and updates the company’s progress towards reaching The Climate Pledge. 

“It’s wonderful to see the announcement of these new projects, helping bring more clean energy to the Commonwealth of Virginia where Amazon is already recognized as a leader in bringing renewable energy projects online,” Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said. “These solar farms help reaffirm the Commonwealth’s role as a leading producer of clean energy in the U.S., helping take the nation forward in responding to climate change.”

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California Renewable Energy Curtailment highlights grid congestion, midday solar peaks, limited battery storage, and market constraints, with WEIM participation and demand response programs proposed to balance supply-demand and reduce wasted solar and wind generation.

Key Points

It is the deliberate reduction of solar and wind output when grid limits or low demand prevent full integration.

✅ Grid congestion restricts transmission capacity

✅ Midday solar peaks exceed demand, causing surplus

✅ Storage, WEIM, and demand response mitigate curtailment

California has long been a leader in renewable energy adoption, achieving a near-100% renewable milestone in recent years, particularly in solar and wind power. However, as the state continues to expand its renewable energy capacity, it faces a growing challenge: the curtailment of excess solar and wind energy. Curtailment refers to the deliberate reduction of power output from renewable sources when the supply exceeds demand or when the grid cannot accommodate the additional electricity.

Increasing Curtailment Trends

Recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlights a concerning upward trend in curtailments in California. In 2024, the state curtailed a total of 3,102 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity generated from solar and wind sources, surpassing the 2023 total of 2,660 GWh. This represents a 32.4% increase from the previous year. Specifically, 2,892 GWh were from solar, and 210 GWh were from wind, marking increases of 31.2% and 51.1%, respectively, compared to the first nine months of 2023.

Causes of Increased Curtailment

Several factors contribute to the rising levels of curtailment:

1. Grid Congestion: California's transmission infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with the rapid growth of renewable energy sources. This congestion limits the ability to transport electricity from generation sites to demand centers, leading to curtailment.
   
   

2. Midday Solar Peaks: Amid California's solar boom, solar energy production typically peaks during the midday when electricity demand is lower. This mismatch between supply and demand results in excess energy that cannot be utilized, necessitating curtailment.
   
   

3. Limited Energy Storage: While battery storage technologies are advancing, California's current storage capacity is insufficient to absorb and store excess renewable energy for later use. This limitation exacerbates curtailment issues.
   
   

4. Regulatory and Market Constraints: Existing market structures and regulatory frameworks may not fully accommodate the rapid influx of renewable energy, leading to inefficiencies and increased curtailment.

Economic and Environmental Implications

Curtailment has significant economic and environmental consequences. For renewable energy producers, curtailed energy represents lost revenue and undermines the economic viability of new projects. Environmentally, curtailment means that clean, renewable energy is wasted, and the grid may rely more heavily on fossil fuels to meet demand, counteracting the benefits of renewable energy adoption.

Mitigation Strategies

To address the rising curtailment levels, California is exploring several strategies aligned with broader decarbonization goals across the U.S.:

• Grid Modernization: Investing in and upgrading transmission infrastructure to alleviate congestion and improve the integration of renewable energy sources.
  
  

• Energy Storage Expansion: Increasing the deployment of battery storage systems to store excess energy during peak production times and release it during periods of high demand.
  
  

• Market Reforms: Participating in the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM), a real-time energy market that allows for the balancing of supply and demand across a broader region, helping to reduce curtailment.
  
  

• Demand Response Programs: Implementing programs that encourage consumers to adjust their energy usage patterns, such as shifting electricity use to times when renewable energy is abundant.

Looking Ahead

As California continues to expand its renewable energy capacity, addressing curtailment will be crucial to ensuring the effectiveness and sustainability of its energy transition. By investing in grid infrastructure, energy storage, and market reforms, the state can reduce curtailment levels and make better use of its renewable energy resources, while managing challenges like wildfire smoke impacts on solar output. These efforts will not only enhance the economic viability of renewable energy projects but also contribute to California's 100% clean energy targets by maximizing the use of clean energy and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

While California's renewable energy sector faces challenges related to curtailment, proactive measures and strategic investments can mitigate these issues, as scientists continue to improve solar and wind power through innovation, paving the way for a more sustainable and efficient energy future.

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