Wind Energy Production Levels Hit All-Time High In California

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California’s wind energy production levels recently reached a new all-time high of 4,196 megawatts (MW). The record was achieved on April 7th at 6:44 PM. This is a surge higher than the previous all-time high of 3,944 MW achieved earlier in the year on March 3.

Wing mills West Coast
Image Credit: Wind Energy via Shutterstock



The California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO), the state’s primary operator for its high-voltage network, released the information in a recent press release covered by Business Wire. The ISO currently serves around 80% of California.

“With these impressive wind production levels, California is well positioned to meet the 33% by 2020 green power goal,” said ISO President and CEO Steve Berberich. “Our control center operators are tracking a steady increase in renewable energy and we are leveraging the latest forecasting technology as well as complementary flexible resources to capture and optimize this carbon-free power supply.”

Currently, there are about 5,899 MW of wind energy capacity installed as part of the ISO grid. The reasons for not hitting max capacity on April 7th are entirely to due to “routine generation and transmission outages.” The high total installed capacity means that California is the second-biggest producing state, with regards to wind energy, second only to Texas. According to the independent system operator ERCOT, which also serves about 80% of its state, Texas currently has 10,407 MW of total installed wind energy capacity. The peak record there was 9,481 MW on February 9, 2013.


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James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

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