It’s Getting Hot In Here. I’ve written about it the heat for what seems like months at this point. I’ve also been living in it as have many of you. Look at the headlines from today, Miami, Arizona and Texas all making the news because of the consistent heat. Step into the ocean near where I live and you find the water to be in the high 90s, bringing too much reality to the saying that the ocean is like a hot tub. I can only imagine what my utility is seeing on the demand side, 40 straight days over 100 degree heat index and reduced cooling efficiencies at the power plants.
But What To Do. The problem is that we’re not going to solve this years grid problem by next year at the rate that we’re going. Building a solar farm or storage project means at least a year in good times and likely a late 2024 or 2025 endeavor at this point given where the interconnection queue is.
- Axios: Miami’s worst heat wave breaks records on land and sea
- Bloomberg: Extreme Heat Drives Texas Power Demand to Another Record
- Reuters: Arizona power demand breaks records during heatwave
- New York Times: So far, Europe’s electricity systems are coping with the heat.
- Utility Dive: Battery storage systems could face rapid asset degradation, especially with arbitrage – Fitch
- CNBC: Solar and wind are set to produce a third of global electricity in 7 years. How to invest behind it
- PV-Tech: “It’s going to be a big ask” – IRA’s domestic content adders leave the PV industry with questions
- Energy Storage News: NYISO studies ‘unique characteristics’ of energy storage as a transmission asset
- PV-Magazine: Solar power purchase agreement pricing is finally cooling
Opinion
Best, Yann