California Solar Production Negatively Impacted by Wildfires
One of the more subtle impacts of California’s growing wildfire problem is the reduction in solar production caused by smoggy, smoky, hazy, polluted air. The state gets over 20% of its electricity from solar sources, so it’s easy to see how this could become an increasingly devastating issue as time goes on.
The Science Behind the Solar Production Reduction
From July 2020 to September 2020, the amount of solar production generated in the California Independent System Operator (CASIO), the system that accounts for 90% of the state’s solar capacity, declined by a whopping 30% on average, with some days seeing close to a 40% drop.
The reason for the decline is simple. The smoke from the state’s massive forest fires contains small airborne particles (called PM2.5) that reduce the amount of sunlight absorbed by solar panels. In fact, by mid-September, the amount of PM2.5 in the air reached its highest level since the measurement of this particulate began 20 years ago. By mid-September, over 3.5 million acres were burned across the state, a mass of land roughly the same size as the state of Connecticut.
Ironically, making matters worse is the fact that offshore wind installations off the coast of California have actually increased the density of PM2.5 in the air, as the turbines have been pushing much of the smoke that would have been carried out to sea back into the southern portion of the state.
The net effect is a substantial reduction in electricity supply throughout the state, yet another hit to the reliability and resiliency of the state’s grid. It’s ironic that climate change is exasperating the wildfire issue, prompting California to make a strong push for new renewable energy sources that in some cases are making the impact of the wildfire issue worse.
There’s little doubt that emergency preparedness personnel at California electric utilities have their work cut out for them. The wildfire problem is not going to resolve itself anytime soon, and in fact it is likely to get worse over time. And clearly, renewable energy, while helpful in some cases, may actually be counter-productive when it comes to forest fires.
It probably does not make sense to abandon plans for offshore wind or solar production, but it will certainly be interesting to see what other compensatory measures the state takes to try and improve the situation over the next few years.
