Renewable energy records set in California and Texas

Share

Figures from the California Independent System Operator (Cal ISO) revealed this week show that the Golden State broke its own one-day record for solar PV generation on June 1 when 4767 MW of utility scale solar energy was fed into the grid.

The record smashed California’s previous one-day best of 4100 MW in March, which also stood as the highest one-day figure for the whole of the U.S.

California’s solar footprint is growing bigger with each passing day, week and month, with May recording three times as much solar generation as recorded during the same month in 2013. In total, solar PV powered 6% of Cal ISO’s total electric load in May, rising to 14% during peak hours, according to data gathered by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). In 2013, California added 2145 MW of utility scale solar.

In Texas, wind power accounted for 30% of the state’s electric load on March 26, generating 10.2 GW of electricity according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Regulators in Texas expect that record to be outstripped again shortly as the state’s wind capacity rises above 12 GW.

Last year was a record 12 months for renewable energy generation in the U.S. The solar sector grew by 41% in 2013, with California responsible for more than half of new PV capacity. For the remainder of 2014, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects California to add an additional 1728 MW of utility scale solar before the year is out.

Popular content

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Share

Related content

Elsewhere on pv magazine...

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.