Why a duck could ruin our electrical grid.

What do ducks and solar panels have in common?

A chart.

The duck curve is an indicator of future sustainable energy issues and inefficiencies.

Let's start with some facts:

• Usage: Demand for electricity changes throughout the day. It ramps up in the morning when people wake up. They go to work, meaning residential demand starts to fall. When people get back from work, around sunset, the need for electricity spikes.

• How solar panels get energy: Solar panels convert sunlight into energy. This means that if the sun isn't shining, we're not getting any energy. If the sun is shining full blast, then we're getting max energy.

These two facts of energy usage create an issue. The sun shines brightest, and solar panels convert the most amount of energy, around noon.

This is an imbalance between the energy supply and demand throughout the day.

Enter - the duck.

The duck curve is a demonstration of electricity demand minus supply.

When people wake up and turn on lights and appliances, there is high demand for electricity. This is the duck's tail.

During the day, when the sun is out, solar panels make a lot of electricity from sunlight. This reduces the need for other power sources, creating the duck's belly.

In the evening, when the sun goes down, solar panels stop making electricity. People come home from work and school, turning on lights, TVs, and ovens. This causes a steep rise in electricity demand, which is the duck's neck.

At night, when everyone is home using electricity, demand stays high. This is the duck's head.

Why does any of this matter? Because if we deal with the ducking duck for too long, it could cause some serious problems.

• Grid stress: In the U.S., over 50% of our electrical grid is more than 25 years old. It wasn't built for solar farms and panels on the roof of your house.

• The economics: Solar farm revenue is variable. This means that utility companies pay a different amount for energy that is demand dependent. Solar farms could be making less money during the day, which is when they generate the most energy. This could deter new farms from entering the space since it might not make economic sense.

So how do we fix it?

I propose two solutions. But they're not going to be easy.

1. Grid upgrades: We need to update our grid. That ish is OLD. And our sustainable energy efforts are growing further. It's not going to be sustainable (hah!) to maintain future clean energy farms. Especially with government tax incentives and increased investor money entering the space. Also - it's difficult to get energy from one side of the country to the other. Most of the U.S. solar farms are on the west coast but most of our population is on the east cost.

2. Battery investment: This one is starting to become more widespread. We can develop better ways to store energy collected by solar panels. If we can do that, we don't have to use all of our solar energy by 6 PM. We can store any extra energy and use it later.

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