California pays others to take excess solar power

Listen To Story Above

California’s excessive solar energy production has created an unexpected dilemma, forcing the state to pay others to utilize its surplus power while local residents face increasing energy costs.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the state’s solar oversupply has led to a reduction of 3 million megawatts annually, equivalent to the power needs of over 500,000 households. This surplus is being exported to other jurisdictions at California’s expense, resulting in reduced bills for out-of-state consumers while Californians bear the financial burden of ambitious green energy initiatives.

Solar power backfires in California as glut raises prices. Everything green is fraud, failure and farce:

"The solar glut also means higher electricity bills for Californians, since they are effectively paying to generate the power but not using it."https://t.co/IoFsVTsj5H pic.twitter.com/8QBiwjCjOk

— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) November 24, 2024

The Times explains: “Solar is the linchpin of California’s plan to generate all its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045, but some energy experts question the feasibility of the plan given the state’s inability to use its existing solar capacity.”

The situation has become so extreme that Phillippe Phanivong of the California Institute for Energy and Environment at UC Berkeley notes that over half of available solar power is wasted on certain days.

While energy storage could potentially address this issue, current battery capacity remains insufficient to prevent rolling blackouts during high-demand periods, particularly when solar generation is limited. Despite these challenges, California continues to reduce solar panel installation incentives for consumers.

California is not using excess solar energy to reduce residents bills. It is letting the excess energy go to waste. https://t.co/9gdXEvgpWJ

— Goldwing Rider (@rider_goldwing) November 25, 2024

Perhaps most concerning is the state’s lack of transparency regarding payments to other jurisdictions for accepting excess power, with no system in place to track these expenditures, according to the Times’ investigation.