Very useful and informative information. One request: please, when presenting multiple graphs showing the same dataset for multiple areas, use the SAME y-axis scale! At a quick glance, it looks like 3MW of solar on Long Island displaces far more carbon than in Arizona, until you look closely at the labeling of the vertical scale. Make it easy on your readers: keep the scale the same!
Hi Noah, this is a great question. Truth is, the replaced fuel is going to vary from location to location and from time to time within a location. In some cases, the new solar will be curtailed so it won't actually be replacing anything. There's an opportunity to be far more strategic about how and where we invest in solar. It's also true that any particular solar installation is going to have more of a local effect than a grid-wide effect, so the average load across the territory is somewhat of a misleading indicator. All of these effects will be felt through the prism of state policy that may vary even within a balancing authority territory. So it's probably the case that there's no one right answer. But if the essay prompts us to ask these deeper questions, we're definitely taking steps in the right direction. Appreciate you responding!
Very useful and informative information. One request: please, when presenting multiple graphs showing the same dataset for multiple areas, use the SAME y-axis scale! At a quick glance, it looks like 3MW of solar on Long Island displaces far more carbon than in Arizona, until you look closely at the labeling of the vertical scale. Make it easy on your readers: keep the scale the same!
The biosphere desperately needs CO2.
Hi Noah, this is a great question. Truth is, the replaced fuel is going to vary from location to location and from time to time within a location. In some cases, the new solar will be curtailed so it won't actually be replacing anything. There's an opportunity to be far more strategic about how and where we invest in solar. It's also true that any particular solar installation is going to have more of a local effect than a grid-wide effect, so the average load across the territory is somewhat of a misleading indicator. All of these effects will be felt through the prism of state policy that may vary even within a balancing authority territory. So it's probably the case that there's no one right answer. But if the essay prompts us to ask these deeper questions, we're definitely taking steps in the right direction. Appreciate you responding!