U.S. windpower declined a few days in 1st week of 2022, natural gas combustion increased
Electric Power Supply Review
Hourly & Daily
January 1-7, 2022
Lubbock County, TX, USA
Photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash
Quick summary
all non-combustion
wind, solar, nuclear and hydroelectric combined supplied 41.92% of total electric power generated . . . contribution of geothermal electric is unknown due to lack of this category in U.S. EIA data collection
solar electric
1.85% of total electric energy generated in the period
windpower
12.16% of total electric energy generated in the period
a 28-hour slowdown January 2-3
Note: see APPENDIX for discussion of EIA Data Source and trans-grid electric power transfers.
U.S. hourly electric power supply
January 1-7, 2022
Natural gas and coal combustion contributed the largest share of electric generation for the January 1-7, 2022 period.
Non-combustion energy sources — wind, solar, nuclear and hydroelectric — combined supplied 41.92% of total electric power generated in the United States contiguous 48 States during the period.
Hourly electric generation from combustion and non-combustion energy sources - January 1-7, 2022. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Hourly Grid Monitor chart created from Linecurrents.live custom query. Times are Central zone.
Total electric generation from combustion and non-combustion energy sources - January 1-7, 2022. Linecurrents.live chart, U.S. EIA data.
Solar electric
The largest U.S. solar electric sources are in Texas (Central time zone) and California (Pacific time zone). Daily solar production maximums are shifted in the chart due to chart times are Eastern zone.
Hourly electric generation from solar energy sources - January 1-7, 2022. Times are Eastern zone. Linecurrents.live chart, U.S. EIA Hourly Grid Monitor data.
Windpower
Noon January 2 through 4:00 PM January 3 was a period of extended reduced windpower generation. A similar slowdown occurred between 3:00 PM January 6 to 1:00 PM January 7.
Hourly electric generation from wind energy sources - January 1-7, 2022. Times are Eastern zone. Linecurrents.live chart, U.S. EIA Hourly Grid Monitor data.
Natural gas and coal
Natural gas combustion increased in days when windpower production declined. Daily up/down pattern of combustion fuel consumption coincides with aggregated consumers’ hourly electric demands.
Hourly electric generation from coal, natural gas and wind energy sources - January 1-7, 2022. Times are Eastern zone. U.S. EIA Hourly Grid Monitor data and chart from Linecurrents.live custom query.
Combined wind and solar electric
Combined wind and solar electric consistency was affected by wind reductions January 2-3 and January 6-7.
Hourly electric generation from solar and wind energy sources - January 1-7, 2022. U.S. EIA Hourly Grid Monitor chart created from Linecurrents.live custom query. Times are Central zone.
Regional windpower
Hourly windpower for January 1 - 7, 2022 is shown in regional charts (below). All chart times are Eastern Zone.
Regional patterns and irregularities
Northwest
Early morning maximums January 2, 3, 4.
Sharp decline early morning January 6.
California
No pattern.
Low production January 1-3 and January 5-6.
Texas
No pattern.
Low production January 2 and January 7.
Central
No pattern.
Midwest
No pattern.
Low production January 2 and January 7.
West and central United States regions defined by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Texas, California, Midwest and Central are regions of greatest U.S. windpower production. Map adapted from U.S. EIA Hourly Electric Grid Monitor . . . colors and region labels added by Linecurrents.live.
The next section examines the hourly impact of removing all combustion electric supply from the U.S. contiguous 48 States’ three electric transmission grids, and increasing wind and solar electric generating capacity by a factor of seven. Results assume that new wind and solar electric plants are at existing sites, and perform the same as older units. Other new sites, such as off-shore windpower, may produce daily or seasonal production patterns which differ from existing sites.
Daily electric supply if combustion sources are eliminated and wind/solar increased 7X
The following analysis illustrates scale-up of existing U.S. wind and solar electric generating capacity, and elimination of combustion generation sources. Nuclear and hydroelectric capacity now in service are not changed.
Total actual U.S. hourly generated electric energy supply is represented in the following charts by a gray line:
includes all electric generating sources: wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, natural gas, coal, petroleum and other.
is an estimate of actual U.S. electric consumers’ hourly consumption.
does not include electric energy imports or exports with Canada and Mexico via electric transmission lines.
Actual wind and solar hourly electric supply are shown as dashed lines. Color-shaded areas represent hourly wind and solar increased by a factor of 7 from actual.
Arrows indicate when excess wind or solar stored in batteries or other systems could be released to fill gaps between consumer electric demand and variable weather-dependent supply. No arrows mean supply is adequate for the day, or energy storage capacity was exhausted in previous days.
Appendix
data source
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Hourly Electric Grid Monitor is the source for data for this report. EIA provides this disclaimer:
Disclaimer: The information submitted by reporting entities is preliminary data and is made available "as-is" by EIA. Neither EIA nor reporting entities are responsible for reliance on the data for any specific use.
Factors which may affect future electric power transfers among U.S. regions
inadequacy of existing transmission grid to move large amounts of electric power between regions.
new transmission line construction delays due to right-of-way acquisition and State/local jurisdiction issues.
States, Balancing Authorities and Regions priorities for use of potential excess variable wind/solar electric energy, such as:
a) export electric energy to other Balancing Authorities or Regions.
b) store electric energy, instead of export, for later consumption.
c) consume electric energy immediately produced for electric transportation, water and indoor space heating, cold storage for air-conditioning, and other uses for which consumption may be controlled to synchronize with variable energy sources production.
d) hydroelectric supply replacement due to Western U.S. drought.
e) nuclear electric supply replacement due to plant closures.