Mild temperatures and sunny skies helped California set two new solar records in recent days.
On Sunday, March 4, the California Independent System Operator saw an all-time peak percentage of demand served by solar, hitting a record 49.95 percent at 12:58 p.m. That’s up from the previous peak of 47.2 percent set on May 14, 2017.
“The record is a result of a cool, sunny day,” Anne Gonzales, senior public information officer at CAISO, wrote in an email.
“Because it was a weekend, and the weather was mild, the minimum load was relatively low, around 18,800 megawatts,” she said. “Meanwhile, solar production was more than 9,400 megawatts.”
A day later, on March 5, CAISO set another solar record, this time hitting a new peak for solar production of 10,411 megawatts at 10:18 a.m. The previous record was 9,913 megawatts set on June 17, 2017.
It’s no surprise that solar is making up a larger and larger portion of California’s electricity mix. The state’s three investor-owned utilities are well ahead of schedule on their renewable energy procurement plans and on track to meet the state’s 33 percent mandate for 2020. At the same time, community-choice aggregators (CCAs) are investing in additional solar installations.
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