Windpower supplied more than 5X compared to solar in 2nd week 2022
Electric Power Supply Review
Hourly & Daily
U.S. contiguous 48 States
January 8-14, 2022
Huerfano River Wind project near Walsenburg, Colorado. Photo by Jeffrey Beall - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60978884. Related: Colorado's Award-Winning Windpower Electric Co-ops
Quick summary
non-combustion
wind, solar, nuclear and hydroelectric combined supplied 40.26% of total electric power generated.
adding wind and solar energy capacity 7X existing would be adequate to supply consumer hourly consumption some days without battery storage or backup fossil fuel combustion generation.
solar electric
1.99% of total electric energy generated in the period.
windpower
10.82% of total electric energy generated in the period.
reduced output January 10, 12-13.
Note: see APPENDIX for discussion of EIA data sources and trans-grid electric power transfers.
U.S. hourly electric power supply - contiguous 48 States
January 8-14, 2022
Natural gas and coal combustion contributed the largest share of electric generation for the January 8-14, 2022 period. Nuclear power produced about one-fifth of the total. Windpower supplied more than five times the electric output of solar.
Total electric energy generated
79,377,045 MegaWatthours (MWH)
Non-combustion energy sources
40.26% of total
(wind, solar, nuclear and hydroelectric)
U.S. contiguous 48 States hourly electric generation from combustion and non-combustion energy sources: January 8-14, 2022. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Hourly Grid Monitor chart created from Linecurrents.live custom query. Times are Eastern zone.
Total electric generation from combustion and non-combustion energy sources: January 8 -14, 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.
A late-day spike in apparent solar electric generation January 13 is due to data from Florida. Cause is unknown.
maximum day
January 11
251,284 MWH
minimum day
January 9
194,878 MWH
7-day total
1,576,331 MWH
daily high-to-low
variation: 22.45%
U.S. contiguous 48 States hourly electric generation from solar energy January 8-14, 2022. Times are Eastern zone. Linecurrents.live chart, U.S. EIA Hourly Grid Monitor data.
Windpower
Mid’-day January 10 and most hours January 12-13 were periods of reduced windpower generation. These wind slowdowns caused an increase in combustion electric generation - (see next two sections, below). No daily pattern of repeating daily highs and lows at regular times of day developed during the 7 days.
maximum day
January 8
1,727,394 MWH
minimum day
January 13
696,786 MWH
7-day total
8,588,681 MWH
daily high-to-low
variation: 59.66%
U.S. contiguous 48 States hourly electric generation from wind energy: January 8-14, 2022. Times are Eastern zone. Linecurrents.live chart, U.S. EIA Hourly Grid Monitor data.
All non-combustion sources
U.S. contiguous 48 States daily electric generation from wind, solar, hydroelectric and solar energy sources: January 8-14, 2022. Times are Eastern zone. U.S. EIA Hourly Grid Monitor data and chart from Linecurrents.live custom query.
Nuclear generation supplied the largest amount of non-combustion electric energy in the U.S. 48 contiguous States January 8-14, 2022. Windpower was the most variable from day to day.
Regional windpower
January 8-14 regional
windpower highlights
Most consistent
Northwest
Most underperforming
California
Most reliable daily cycle
None
Hourly windpower for January 8-14, 2022 is shown in regional charts (below). Chart times are local. Northwest and Mid-Atlantic regions span two time zones
United States regions defined by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Southeast lacks significant windpower generation and is not included in this regional analysis. 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 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 green and yellow lines.
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 storage capacity of 4-6 hours 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.