Solar power helps New England hit historic milestone

[jpak]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/isone-electric-grid-solar-power-17302387

Mild weather and rooftop solar power have created a first-ever situation on New England’s electric grid: On Saturday, April 21, there was less power used in the middle of the day than in the middle of the night.

“We were expecting this to happen at some point as more behind-the-meter solar gets installed in New England and the weather conditions were just right. While this kind of dip in demand is new for New England, it’s a common occurrence in California,” said Mike Knowland, Forecast and Scheduling Supervisor for ISO-New England, the group that oversees the six-state power grid.

At 1:30 p.m. on April 21, according to ISO-NE, the grid had to supply slightly less than 10,000 megawatts of electricity, while another 2,300 megawatts was being provided by solar panels on roofs around the region – the most solar production ever in New England.

By contrast, at about 3:30 a.m. that morning, when no solar power was available, demand had dipped to its overnight low of slightly more than 10,000 MW – higher than the midday low.

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Check out the graphic at the link....

[VMA131Marine]

1. Interesting, my rooftop system only produced 8.3 kWh on that day

so it wasn't a great day for solar power production in Central Connecticut. On a sunny day with minimal cloud cover my system produces 63 kWh. May 2018 was my best month ever: 1297 kWh.