Solar Wants to Help Fix California’s `Duck Curve’ Power Dilemma

Big solar farms helped create a power-grid predicament in California. And now they’re offering to help solve it.

Solar panels have proliferated in the Golden State, flooding the grid with power supplies in the middle of the day when the sun’s out -- and then quickly vanishing after sunset. This has created a sharp curve in California’s net-power demand that’s shaped like a duck. And the so-called duck curve is getting steeper every year, sending wholesale electricity prices plunging into negative territory, forcing generators offline and making it increasingly difficult to maintain the reliability of California’s transmission lines.

The Duck Curve

Source: California ISO

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