Following up from yesterday, the much anticipated solar eclipse was certainly a sight to behold. With much talk about how solar energy would be affected by the phenomena, here’s exactly what happened.
Millions across America gazed into the sky to watch the rare total eclipse. As you can probably imagine, it’s a surreal sight to see your surroundings plunge into darkness for just a couple minutes, whilst the moon blocks the sun. The eclipse also proved to be a test to the electric grid which is becoming increasingly more reliant on solar power. This proved to be an invaluable test for the solar world, as although this is rare occurrence, big electric grids need to be prepared for anything.
So, let’s have a look at how California dealt with the eclipse just as an example. On a usual day, California will produce about 10,000 Megawatts of power using solar, an impressive amount which is obviously worrying in the event of an eclipse. During, about 3,400 megawatts of output disappeared suddenly when the moon blanketed the sun – which was more than anticipated.However, as the solar production declined more power from natural gas and hydroelectric dams was used, in other words they dealt with the situation amazingly.This proved that renewable energy can be the future and can deal with more challenges than perhaps initially thought.
Overall, the solar power grid definitely passed the solar eclipse test which is a big win for renewables as it showed just how sustainable they really can be. So, if you were kept awake last night worrying about whether or not solar could prove how amazing it was in the event of a solar eclipse, you can rest at ease now.
