Relative differences in natural gas prices do not seem to be driving the gap between Northern and Southern
California power prices (see chart below).
Consequently, since April 2012 Southern
California power prices have persistently exceeded Northern California prices, with the spread averaging $ 4.15 / MWh, or 12 % of the Northern California price.
Not exact matches
In Southern
California, a company called Advanced Microgrid Solutions is spearheading a project that involves replacing the energy that was once provided by a large (now decommissioned) nuclear
power plant with a series of solar arrays and batteries that AMS can turn on and off based on when the
prices for conventional energy are low and when there's the most demand.
After skewering the proposed system («one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world»), Musk issued an open - source design challenge: a 28 - passenger solar -
powered pod capable of levitating through a system of tubes almost at the speed of sound, with a one - way ticket
price of $ 20 and a total building cost estimated at $ 6 billion, less than a tenth of the budget for
California's high - speed rail project.
And fifth, utility - scale solar is reaching
prices, especially in
California and the Southeast, that are competitive with local wind
power (and cheaper at certain times of day).
The generation and
pricing patterns that occurred in March and that may continue through the spring highlight some of the issues
California grid operators will face in integrating large amounts of solar into their
power markets.
An advocate for sustainable business practices said
California's leadership on the Clean
Power Plan could spur other states to pursue carbon
pricing.
Well
California encountered brownouts because the
power companies wanted to up the
price.
Via Greentech Media More on Smart Meters: 5.3 Million Smart Meters to be Installed by Southern
California Edison Smart
Power Meters and Real - Time
Pricing Leads to Saved Energy and Money Itron and Tendril Create Dialogue Between Smart Homes and Utilities Smart Grid Coming, But Are Smart Homes?
Using targeted communication like phone calls — and no
price signals or in - home devices — the company showed consistent peak load reductions across a test that involved Consumers Energy in Michigan, Efficiency Vermont / Green Mountain
Power, and Glendale Water &
Power in
California.
California's Energy Imbalancing Market is a strategy to buy cheap out - of - state hydropower from federal dams to replace the government - induced high
price for natural gas peaker
power as a result of shifting to green
power.
* Cloete also thinks
California stands a better chance of escaping the European scourge of negative green energy
prices if it does not expand green
power beyond its present 20 percent penetration to meet its goal of a 33 percent renewable energy standard by 2020.
Coal fired
power plants can not sell their
power to
california even with extortionary
prices to the
california consumers initiated by deregulations.
A new approach now in the early stages of implementation in
California and elsewhere is changing from charging the same
price for electricity at all times of the day to a system in which the
price varies to reflect the actual cost of
power at that time.
Rather than encouraging the building of more efficient
power plants, the
California regulatory scheme prevented building new efficient
power plants by forcing utilities to rely on the unreliable availability and predatory
prices for imported electricity.
Solar
power development is big business in sunny
California, fueled by low solar panel
prices and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change.
Tags
California,
California housing, distributed generation, housing
prices, mandatory solar panels, Net Metering, rem, renewable electricity mandate, Renewable Portfolio Standard, Residential solar
power, rooftop solar, rps, Solar, solar mandates
On some of America's most idyllic shorelines between Vermont and
California lie several behemoths of the past, shuttered nuclear
power plants closed prematurely because they could no longer compete in electricity markets upended by record - low natural gas
prices or because they had technical issues that made them too expensive or scientifically challenging to repair.
Southern
California Edison's net metering program values each kWh of excess solar generation sent to the grid at the retail
power price.
And fifth, utility - scale solar is reaching
prices, especially in
California and the Southeast, that are competitive with local wind
power (and cheaper at certain times of day).
Check out what the wholesale
price of
power in
California is right now, it's 3.0.
Nuclear is the least flexible form of conventional generation, and this conflict has resulted in negative
power prices in
California as well as curtailment of wind and solar.
An important question when
pricing pollution from electricity is whether to
price the
power generated in the state (like RGGI and British Columbia), or the
power used in the state (like
California and Quebec).
Although SoCal Citygate spot natural gas
prices have increased slightly compared to the northern PG&E Citygate, this difference accounts for less than $ 1 per megawatthour of the average change in the wholesale
power price in Southern
California.
The CPUC therefore set
California's per kilowatt - hour electricity payment to generators of renewable energy projects of up to 20 megawatts at the lowest estimated
price a utility would have to pay to obtain
power from a new, industry - standard natural gas plant.
In northern
California solar production is still really high and usually more
power is exported than what is drawn, in this case each kWh is credited at the retail
power price.
That report, U.S. Solar Market Value Report — 1st Edition: Further Evidence that Solar Adds Value to Real Estate, looked at the sale of real estate with solar
power in Arizona,
California and Massachusetts and concluded that, indeed, solar does add value to a home's real estate
price.