CAISO: California curtailed 80 GWh of renewables in March
On the back of repleted hydropower reservoirs and growing solar, the California ISO is curtailing more renewable generation: 60,000 MWh in February and 80,000 MWh in March, compared to 21,000 MWh and 47,000 MWh in the corresponding months last year.
But the expansion of CAISO’s Energy Imbalance Market is helping mitigate those impacts, Platts reports. The ISO’s report on the fourth quarter operations of the EIM estimates the market was able to use 23,390 MWh of surplus renewable energy to displace over 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions.
“EIM is helping to displace less-clean energy supplies with surplus renewable energy that otherwise may have been curtailed, the report concluded.
Fourth quarter estimated gross benefits in 2016 were $28.26 million, bringing the total benefits of the market to $142 million since the California ISO expanded its real-time market to balancing areas outside the ISO.
