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Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. As electricity prices go negative, the Golden State is struggling to offload a glut of solar power (wapo.st)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'll note that right now, this is a seasonal issue, associated with moderate springtime temperatures when there is a lot of sunshine available.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Okay, I went and read it because I have more time today and excess electricity causing physical damage is a compelling narrative. But this article doesn't support that. It's just plant operators having to pay for people to take their electricity because their plant is obsolete technology and can't idle. I did check a few other articles too. It seems the damage is financial and a problem because we've turned a public good into a for profit capitalist system.

The solution is many things but also to just have modern natural gas plants that are more than capable of flexible output. Of course the profit motive means updates like that only come when forced and boards like the CPUC have been hopelessly captured for my entire lifetime. So instead they shit on their consumers.