As we head into October, we go away behind a summer season of maximum warmth throughout the USA, and with it, you may nearly hear the electrical energy sector breathe a collective sigh of reduction.

This summer season, the USA endured the 2 warmest months ever recorded, but the system held. Because the summer season kicked off, grid screens rang alarm bells about looming blackouts, however aside from outages associated to wildfires in Hawaii and a hurricane within the Southeast, there have been no main interruptions. Regardless of years of messages making an attempt to boost doubts about whether or not renewables have a spot in grid reliability, there’s little question now that wind and solar energy and battery storage held their very own this summer season.

Whereas it’s encouraging that the facility stayed on, specialists agree that the grid was pushed to its restrict, and frequently growing warmth and excessive climate throughout summer season imply we have to preserve strengthening and increasing the grid. Utilities, grid managers, and policymakers who help the transition to cleaner, extra dependable, more cost effective renewable energy should redouble their efforts as bouts of maximum climate linked to local weather change change into extra frequent. Whereas fossil gas supporters will proceed responsible renewables for all of the system’s woes, the optimistic impacts of renewable energy had been on full show throughout the nation.

File warmth, report demand

There was no escaping the acute warmth this summer season. It was notably brutal in Texas, the place the capital, Austin, hit triple-digit temperatures for 34 straight days. Dallas recorded record-high warmth for 3 consecutive days whereas El Paso noticed 56 triple-digit days, the third most in its historical past. From June 27 to August 12, Texas set 10 all-time peak energy demand information, in line with information from ERCOT (Electrical Reliability Council of Texas), which manages 90 % of the state’s electrical load.

The Lone Star State was no outlier. Scorching temperatures lined a lot of the Southeast in August earlier than creeping into the Midwest and Northeast. The common temperature throughout the contiguous United States in August was 74.4 levels Fahrenheit — 2.3 levels above common — which clocks in because the ninth warmest within the nation’s 129 years of recordkeeping. Globally, the summer season of 2023 was the most popular on report, in line with European Union’s Local weather Change Service.

These excessive temperatures led to report masses throughout the nation. In late August, Southwest Energy Pool (SPP), the grid supervisor for utilities and transmission firms throughout 17 states within the central United States, noticed report masses on three consecutive days.

Regardless of circumstances that many believed would trigger it to buckle and provides out, the grid held up. A part of that success could be attributed to emergency demand response. In Texas, for instance, surging energy demand prompted a number of calls from ERCOT to clients to scale back their power use, together with throughout the first week of September amid scorching warmth. Nonetheless, the state prevented widespread blackouts.

However emergency actions and last-minute energy-saving measures from clients shouldn’t be the idea for grid reliability. To that finish, we have to proceed growing the capability of grid sources to organize for more and more scorching summers. And this summer season confirmed the brand new capability we’ve already constructed is delivering on reliability.

Renewables on the rise

Clear power sources proceed to ramp up (pun supposed) to offer the dependable, reasonably priced, clear service all of us deserve. Initially of August, the USA had about 237,000 megawatts of utility-scale photo voltaic, wind, and battery storage on-line. This accounted for 15.1 % of electrical energy generated, up from 12 % on the identical time a yr prior, in line with the American Clear Energy Affiliation. Of that, 10,000 megawatts had been added within the first half of 2023.

Texas produces extra wind energy than some other state, however this summer season, it was photo voltaic that stole the present. The state produced twice as a lot solar energy as final yr, in accordance to Dr. Joshua Rhodes, a analysis scientist with the Webber Power Group on the College of Texas. On August 10, wind and photo voltaic power generated sufficient energy to satisfy 25 % of demand throughout the peak hour of utilization, in accordance to ERCOT.

Actually, all U.S. energy grids set photo voltaic era information this summer season, in line with Grid Standing, an internet site that tracks grids in actual time. And that pattern is about to proceed. A brand new report from the Photo voltaic Power Industries Affiliation estimates that 32 gigawatts of extra photo voltaic capability can be added in 2023, representing 52 % progress from 2022.

Wind additionally performed its half in retaining the air conditioners buzzing. In late August, at SPP, renewables (principally wind) contributed 10 to twenty % of energy era at peak occasions. Grid operators in California and within the central United States additionally set renewable power information.

The recipe for fulfillment

A number of elements got here collectively to forestall a summer season of maximum warmth from turning into the type of life-threatening catastrophe we’ve seen when air conditioners go silent throughout warmth waves:

• Extra diversification of power sources, together with growing quantities of wind and photo voltaic
• Higher planning and preparedness
• Greater ranges of hydroelectric energy as a result of heavy winter rain and snow within the West
• Demand response applications that supply customers rebates to ease up on power use throughout the hottest elements of the day

Emergency demand response shouldn’t be the north star for grid reliability, and this summer season highlights proactive demand administration as a crucial technique. Grid operators and utilities ought to strengthen applications that incentivize lowered and extra environment friendly power use and encourage the adoption of versatile demand sources like electrical autos and good houses.

Whereas spectacular, the sheer quantity of latest photo voltaic and wind energy alone is simply a part of the image. Renewable power is offering extra resilient, predictable provide, and storage is extending the worth these sources provide previous the hours when the solar is shining.

Extra options are wanted, however many are at our disposal. We want a major build-out of high-voltage interregional transmission to get that new energy the place it must go, notably throughout excessive climate. Utility planners and policymakers have to make it a precedence to construct new transmission strains that interconnect utility areas and ship energy throughout better distances. The grid must be greater than any excessive climate sample. In July, the Federal Power Regulatory Fee took an ideal first step towards dashing up the connection of latest renewable energy to grids throughout the nation, but it surely nonetheless must finalize a powerful regional transmission planning rule and begin a rule to make sure sturdy interregional transmission.

The lesson from the summer season of 2023 could also be that, whereas the sky isn’t falling, we can’t let our guard down. We have to speed up efforts to combine extra renewable power and storage sources into the grid, encourage power effectivity and demand response, and improve and increase the transmission grid, and to do all of it whereas defending communities and ecosystems which have traditionally — and disproportionately — been negatively impacted by power growth.

By Christy Walsh. Republished from NRDC.