CAISO sets wind peak record; solar curtailments rise on surge of wind generation

The California Independent System Operator set a new wind generation peak of 6.178 GW, topping the previous record by 7.4%, the grid operator recently announced in its February Key Statistics Report.

The record was reached at 12:56 pm Feb. 15, surpassing the previous record of 5.754 GW set May 29, 2021, according to the report. As wind generation surged, South Hub real-time five-minute interval prices dropped to minus $1.14/MWh, according to CAISO data.

North Hub on-peak real-time locational marginal prices fell to minus $5.39/MWh for Feb. 15, compared with the February average of $15.35/MWh, according to CAISO data.

The record caused wind penetration to spike to a nine-month high of 15.4% for Feb. 15, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights' CAISO wind renewable penetration index. At the same time, solar curtailments increased to offset the surge in wind generation.

Peak demand served by renewables reached a month high of 7.062 GW Feb. 15, a 1.6% decrease month on month, according to the February Key Statistics Report.

CAISO wind capacity

CAISO has 26.257 GW of installed renewable capacity within its footprint, of which 30% or 7.888 GW is wind, according to the February Key Statistics Report. Solar leads renewable capacity with 56.99%, or 14.963 GW.

California ranks sixth for utility-scale wind capacity in the US, behind Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Texas, according to the American Clean Power Association's quarterly report for Q4 2021. California ranks first for solar and storage capacity, pulling it up to second overall for renewables capacity -- wind, solar and storage combined.

California, which has 13.663 GW in the development pipeline, saw the largest uptick in projects starting construction in Q4 at 1.153 GW and ranks second for total capacity under construction at 3.499 GW, according to ACP data.

CAISO added 1.564 GW in 2021, of which 724 MW was wind, according to the CAISO Generation Queue. The remainder were 340 MW of solar and 500 MW of battery storage.

Of the 7.6 GW in the CAISO generator interconnection queue with 2022 proposed online dates, 5.778 GW have executed interconnection agreements. That includes 306 MW of wind that could come online this year. It also includes 4.36 GW of solar, most with storage connected, and 1.1 GW of storage, according to CAISO's queue as of April 1.