SkepticalScience: "New Mexico’s clean energy success story."
"July is the most electricity-intensive time of yr in U.S., + the grid [works] hard to keep up."
Many places, high electricity demand equals high pollution, which used to be true in New Mexico, but the state’s electricity supply flipped from majority climate-warming fossil fuels to majority renewables in just 5 yrs. Think on that, just 5 yrs. "Spurred by an ambitious clean energy law called Energy Transition Act, utilities [got] busy building solar arrays, wind turbines, batteries, + transmission." A major coal plant was retired + decommissioned. "Solar panels proliferated on homes, schools, businesses."
"Even while New Mexico was building out its clean energy future, electricity prices remained cheaper than average." New Mexico’s largest utility is Public Service Company of New Mexico, or PNM. "Only 5 yrs ago, most of PNM’s cooling needs were met by coal + gas, which made up 83% of its electricity generation in July of 2021."
Now abundant sunshine provides much of the region’s electricity. The 'golden' line on the graph shows [only] grid-scale solar every day for wk of July 6th, when solar flux generated 41% of the power.
Second, the 'green' line shows electricity stored + released by utility-scale batteries. During daytime, the line dips below zero when the batteries are pulling electricity off the grid to charge up. In the hot summer evenings, the green lines spike upward, as PNM’s battery fleet comes to life, delivering the solar energy stored just a few hours earlier.
The next big player is wind, the 'blue' line on the graph, when the wind blows strongest in the evening—it’s the perfect complement to solar in this region. Thus, wind accounted for 20% of electricity generation during the week shown.
Fourth, the 'brown' line on the graph shows electricity generated from fossil gas.
Finally, the nearly flat 'black' line exemplifies how coal works best at a constant pace.
Take a deep breath, close your eyes for a moment, + imagine if every state + territory could accomplish such an abrupt transition simultaneously. It never hurts to dream. Except then you have to do the work.
