‘Unprecedented’ energy record shows future of clean power, expert says

Anthony Cuthbertson
Tue, April 16, 2024 

SOLAR FRYER OF BIRDS AND BATS



California has hit a new renewables record after exceeding 100 per cent of grid demand with clean energy sources for 30 of the past 38 days.

New data from California Independent System Operator (CAISO) shows that supply from geothermal, hydro, solar and wind exceeded demand for between 0.25-6 hours per day for more than three quarters of days since the start of March.

It is the first time that the US state has succeeded in drawing all of its electricity needs from wind-water-solar (WWS) sources for such a sustained period of time.


“This is unprecedented in California’s history,” Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University who first shared the figures, told The Independent.

“In previous years, WWS supply exceeded demand occasionally on one weekend day, but never two days in a row and never during the week, and never to the magnitude that is now, up to 122 per cent of demand.”


Electricity production from renewables was so strong that not even a partial solar eclipse interrupted the run earlier this month.

As the fifth largest economy in the world, California is the largest state to see such success, though it only ranked 12th in the US last year for producing WWS electricity relative to consumption.

Professor Jacobson noted that the trend is not unique to California, with South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Mained, Montana, New Mexico, Okleahona, Oregon, Washington State and Wyoming all producing over 56 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources in 2023.

“This is getting so easy, it’s almost boring,” Professor Jacobson said. “Just need offshore wind and more solar and batteries to get to 100 per cent 24/7.”

California plans to add 60 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2035 in order to transition away from polluting energy sources over the next decade.

The plan was approved by state energy regulators in February, who claimed it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25 million metric tons.

“This is a critical component of California’s climate change strategy,” said Alice Reynolds, president of California Public Utilities Commission.

Recently published research from Professor Jacobson shows that five countries are already meeting all of their energy needs from renewable sources – Albania, Bhutan, Nepal and Paraguay – while a further nine produce more than 90 per cent of their energy from renewables.

In the UK, it was reported in March that renewable energy overtook gas for the first time this winter, while a January report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed that the world added 50 per cent more renewable energy in 2023 than 2022.

Seven countries now generate 100% of their electricity from renewable energy

Anthony Cuthbertson
Tue, April 16, 2024 


Nearly 50 countries now generate more than 50 per cent of their electricity from renewable energy sources (The Independent)


Seven countries now generate nearly all of their electricity from renewable energy sources, according to newly compiled figures.

Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo produced more than 99.7 per cent of the electricity they consumed using geothermal, hydro, solar or wind power.

Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) also revealed that a further 40 countries generated at least 50 per cent of the electricity they consumed from renewable energy technologies in 2021 and 2022 – including 11 European countries.

“We don’t need miracle technologies,” said Stanford University Professor Mark Jacobson, who published the data.

“We need to stop emissions by electrifying everything and providing the electricity with Wind, Water and Solar (WWS), which includes onshore wind, solar photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, geothermal electricity, small hydroelectricity, and large hydroelectricity.”

Professor Jacobson also noted that other countries like Germany were also capable of running off 100 per cent renewable-generated electricity for short periods of time.

Figures released by the IEA in January show that the UK generated 41.5 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2022 – up 10.5 per cent from the year before.

In Scotland, renewable energy technologies generated the equivalent of 113 per cent of the country’s overall electricity consumption in 2022.

“These record-breaking figures are a major milestone on Scotland’s journey to net-zero, clearly demonstrating the enormous potential of our world-class renewable energy resources,” Claire Mack, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said at the time.

While Scotland’s electricity generation was dominated by wind power, researchers predict that solar will come to dominate global electricity supplies over the coming decades.

There has been significant progress in recent years with improving efficiency rates for solar cells, primarily boosted by the so-called ‘miracle material’ perovskite.

Commercial costs have also fallen, which led scientists at the University of Exeter and University College London to claim last year that solar energy has reached an “irreversible tipping point” that will see it become the world’s main source of energy by 2050.

Their 2023 paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that technological and economic advances meant the transition to clean energy is not just reachable, but inevitable.

“Due to technological trajectories set in motion by past policy, a global irreversible solar tipping point may have passed where solar energy gradually comes to dominate global electricity markets, without any further climate policies,” the researchers wrote in the study.

“Solar energy is the most widely available energy resource on Earth, and its economic attractiveness is improving fast in a cycle of increasing investments.”