David R. Baker | SF Chronicle Link to article
Just past noon on a broiling Central Valley day, the strain on California’s electrical grid is rising with the temperature.
Inside the control room that runs the grid, on the outskirts of Folsom, a yellow line on a glowing wall of data squiggles steadily higher, then hits a stable plateau. It marks the amount of renewable electricity surging onto the system as the fierce sun fires up solar power plants scattered across the state.
More than 27 percent of California’s demand for electricity at this moment is being met by renewable sources — primarily the sun, the wind and the Earth’s own heat. (Link to article)