The skies will darken for about three hours, taking most solar-power generation in states from California to Texas offline.
America’s power grids will face a test this Saturday as an annular solar eclipse—a so-called ring of fire—brings big swings to the nation’s solar output.
As California falls under partial shadow, solar output there could drop to less than a quarter of what is typical on a sunny October day, according to the California Independent System Operator, the organization that runs the state’s grid. Excess solar energy produced during the day is stored in batteries so it can be used in the evening, or when hot weather or winter storms create extra demand. Other energy sources, such as natural gas and wind, also help to keep the lights on.
In 2021, for example, millions of Texan households lost power as freezing winter storms knocked out infrastructure like wind turbines and natural gas plants. The state grid’s lack of connections with the rest of the country largely prevented it from importing electricity. This past summer, the state’s grid went into high alert again as heat waves lifted power demand.
The impact will be more notable also because solar energy now accounts for a bigger share of power generation. In the summer of 2017, about 2% of the nation’s electricity generation came from utility-scale solar farms and panels on private rooftops. This July, the share was 6.2%, according to the Energy Information Administration.
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