California’s Independent System Operator (CAISO), which manages most of the state’s power grid, projected this morning that the eclipse would knock out about 4,300 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar and another 1,300 MW of rooftop generation. It is not in the path of totality, but the 56- to 78-percent blockage of sunlight will have a big impact thanks to 18 gigawatts worth of solar panels deployed at utility-scale power plants and across rooftops-more than any other state. ![]() By all accounts power systems across the Western Interconnection absorbed the eclipse-induced solar crash and resurgence, keeping electrical systems stable throughout.Ĭalifornia faced the biggest challenge. Kevin Geraghty, senior vice president of energy supply for Nevada utility NV Energy, told the Las Vegas Journal-Review last week that, “We’ll just simply ride through it.” And so they did. And they could project that, at its worst, the shifts in solar generation would be no more challenging than those experienced already on partly cloudy days. Grid managers knew exactly when the moon would transit across the sun’s path, blotting out gigawatts of solar power generation. Today’s eclipse was more like a 105-mph smoker from a predictable fastball pitcher. Western grid operators such as California’s have become adept at hitting the electricity supply curve balls that weather-dependent wind and solar power toss their way.
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