Quack quack

Welcome back to The Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that’s like seeing a McDonald’s in a foreign country after a few days of questionable(?) local cuisine. A guilty pleasure, but we won’t tell on you.

The Strawman’s been away for the past couple of days in none other than Italy - the one thing Italy has that the UK doesn’t? Sun. Which got us thinking about solar energy and a graph that’s been living in The Strawman’s head rent-free.

Let’s dive in.

Recap on solar

Even kids these days understand the basic premise of solar energy. Sun go brrr and then solar panels capture this energy, turning it into electricity that we can use for… well, pretty much everything.

The case for solar energy is pretty self explanatory - it’s renewable (e.g., the sun isn’t going anywhere anytime soon), most solar projects result in the creation of jobs, and the sun is pretty reliable (relative to e.g., wind energy).

Now, there are also a bunch of issues with solar energy - it can be expensive to set up (although this is changing), it can only be used when the sun’s out (so you need other sources in the evening), and they’re not the prettiest looking (although The Strawman reckons they look better than coal power plants but what do we know 🤷)

This second point in particular creates an interesting phenomena called the Duck Curve.

🦆 Waddle We Do About the Duck Curve?

The below graph may look confusing, but as always The Strawman’s here to simplify.

See, in regions that have significant solar energy capacity, there’s an interesting balancing act that happens in the evening. Namely - the sun goes down, which means non-solar energy sources have to ramp up. 

As the sun goes down and people return home to begin evening routines like cooking, laundry or watching TV, almost everybody requires electricity from the grid and demand from the grid increases, resulting in ‘high load’. Because larger generators cannot be turned up quickly, when demand increases suddenly, the system may become unstable.

The Duck Curve is what the graph that results from the difference between energy demand and solar energy production.

As solar energy production increases during the day, it creates a drop in the demand for other energy sources, causing a dip in the graph resembling a duck's belly. As the sun sets, solar energy production declines, and the demand for traditional energy sources surges, creating a steep increase in the graph that mimics a duck's neck. Quack quack indeed. 🦆 

California’s an interesting case study in that they’re now in a situation where peak solar energy production actually results in more energy than they need at that moment in time. 

The Future is Stored

Energy storage technologies, like batteries, are the key to solving the duck curve dilemma.

By storing excess solar energy generated during the day, we can release it when demand peaks in the evening, smoothing out the curve and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

With advances in battery technology and decreasing costs, the potential for widespread energy storage is becoming more achievable, paving the way for a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.

That’s it for today’s edition of The Strawman - back to holidaying.

See ya tomorrow!

The Strawman