Renewables exceed electricity demand

Mark Z. Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and author of No Miracles Needed: How Today’s Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air, has written a piece in Scientific American delineating the renewable revolution happening in California. He states: “California has hit record-breaking milestones in renewable electricity generation, showing that wind, water and solar are ready to cover our electricity needs.”

Jacobson continues “Something spectacular is happening in the Golden State. California—the fifth-largest economy in the world—has experienced a record-breaking string of days in which the combined generation of wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and solar electricity has exceeded demand on the main electricity grid for anywhere from 15 minutes to 9.25 hours per day. These clean, renewable electricity sources are collectively known as wind-water-solar (WWS) sources.

“It is impossible to understate how monumental this clean, renewable energy milestone is and how quickly WWS supplies have ramped up….At press time, for 39 of the past 47 days (through April 23, supplies of WWS electricity have exceeded demand on the grid.”