NEW YORK, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- California is making so much solar energy that large commercial operators are increasingly forced to stop production, raising questions about the state's costly plan to shift entirely to carbon-free sources of electricity, reported The Los Angeles Times on Monday.
"In the last 12 months, California's solar farms have curtailed production of more than 3 million megawatt hours of solar energy, either on the orders of the state's grid operator or because prices had plummeted because of the glut," the report cited an analysis of data. That's enough to power 518,000 California homes for a year, based on average electricity usage.
"The amount of curtailed solar power has more than doubled from 1.5 million megawatt hours in 2021, state records show, and is up eight times from levels in 2017," noted the report.
The waste would have been even larger if California had not paid utilities in other states to take the excess solar energy, documents from the state's grid operator show. That means green energy paid for by California electricity customers is sent away, lowering bills for residents of other states, according to the report.
Arizona's largest public utility reaped 69 million U.S. dollars in savings last year by buying from the market California created to get rid of its excess solar power. The utility returned that money to its customers as a credit on their bills, said the report. Also reaping profits are electricity traders, including banks and hedge funds.
The increasing oversupply of solar power has created a situation where energy traders can buy the excess at prices so low they become negative, energy consultant Gary Ackerman, the former executive director of the Western Power Trading Forum, was quoted as saying. That means the solar plant is paying the traders to take it. ■
