U.S.A. AUGUST 21 ECLIPSE TO BLOCK SUN FROM SOLAR POWER PLANTS
A rare eclipse set to traverse the US on Monday has sparked a tourism bonanza, as people flock to towns in its path to see the sun’s corona encircle the moon.
The control rooms of the nation’s electric utilities will also be watching. That is because thousands of megawatts of solar energy will disappear as skies darken.
In California, the grid operator is lining up additional supply from natural gas power plants and hydroelectric dams to accommodate the drop. PJM Interconnection, the grid spanning from Illinois to New Jersey, expects up to 2,500MW of solar power to be lost and will rely on replacement generation. The contingency plans reflect the expansion of solar energy in the US in the years since 1979, the last time a total solar eclipse awed the country. The rise has been especially dramatic in California, which aims to get half its power from renewable sources by 2030 in a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions. California lies south of the “path of totality”, where day briefly turns to night, but more than half its sunlight would be obscured between roughly 9am and noon on Monday, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) said. As people flip on lights and solar plants and rooftop photo-voltaic systems lose their fuel source, the California grid operator said it would have to fill a gap of 6,000MW — enough power for 6m homes. “We’ve told the market that we’re going to need extra generation on that morning,” said Steven Greenlee, an ISO spokesman.
source: ft.com
The control rooms of the nation’s electric utilities will also be watching. That is because thousands of megawatts of solar energy will disappear as skies darken.
In California, the grid operator is lining up additional supply from natural gas power plants and hydroelectric dams to accommodate the drop. PJM Interconnection, the grid spanning from Illinois to New Jersey, expects up to 2,500MW of solar power to be lost and will rely on replacement generation. The contingency plans reflect the expansion of solar energy in the US in the years since 1979, the last time a total solar eclipse awed the country. The rise has been especially dramatic in California, which aims to get half its power from renewable sources by 2030 in a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions. California lies south of the “path of totality”, where day briefly turns to night, but more than half its sunlight would be obscured between roughly 9am and noon on Monday, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) said. As people flip on lights and solar plants and rooftop photo-voltaic systems lose their fuel source, the California grid operator said it would have to fill a gap of 6,000MW — enough power for 6m homes. “We’ve told the market that we’re going to need extra generation on that morning,” said Steven Greenlee, an ISO spokesman.
source: ft.com
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