Hacker News Reader

Comment by LeoPanthera | Hacker News Reader

Very clickbait headline.

It means that 100% of California's power was provided by renewable sources for just a moment, at 2:45pm on one particular day.

View on HN

I've no issue with the title.

It's a pretty big milestone on the journey.

Non-renewables are going to be around for a very long time, as the sun and wind can't be turned up based on demand - but kind-of nice to see them relegated to surge duty, rather than the core of energy production.

I can see it both ways. I think people who follow this stuff closely understand it without even having to click on the article.

But I have noticed an attitude among most non-news junkies of "I don't get why not everything is renewable - it literally is just as easy - must be bribes by oil execs". And I assume most non-news junkies who end up seeing that headline will assume it means California is 100% powered by solar and wind.

It's not like oil and gas execs werent working to inhibit this. This milestone could have been reached years back. E.g. tariffs on imported solar panels have been around since Obama.

The only reason they couldnt stop this future was because the plunge in price was so precipitous.

And it's always a Sunday when virtually no work is being done, on a day with perfect weather so no AC or Heating and most people have no need for indoor lighting. For most people a black out during this time would go unnoticed.

You're reading too much into this, the day isn't as important as the time of day.

Season is also important. At many electric utilities in the US, system light load is typically during a weekend in the Spring.

I imagine you're referring to the importance of good solar conditions for the production of electricity and I agree that's vital. However these articles give false hope by matching peak solar production to the lowest possible consumption period which is always on the weekends with 70 degree weather. You have close to zero commercial machinery, zero need for climate control, zero lighting (people are either outside or use natural light).

I was talking about energy demand, sunday doesn't differ that much from monday, contrary to what you think. The time of day matters much more. You can verify this yourself by looking at CISOs demand graphs.

Why does this article give false hope? It just reports on a first time ever?

Well, it's California, so the perfect weather is more common than you might think!

... for the first time, ever!

I think the article met my expectations - though I have a pretty good understanding of how the grid is built thanks to my father in law (who worked for a natural gas plant for a while).

In either case, onwards and upwards! I'm excited to see the renewable sector continue to grow. :-)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com