Catalina Solar. (Photos courtesy of EDF Renewable Energy)
One of the raps against solar and wind power is that they’re intermittent sources of energy, generating electricity only when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining and thus creating potential headaches for grid operators who must keep the supply and demand for electrons in balance.
Pacific Wind
One solution: The hybrid solar-wind power plant. This week EDFRenewable Energy officially unveiled the 140-megawatt Pacific Wind farm in the Tehachapi-Mojave region of Southern California and the nearby 143-megawatt Catalina solar power station. The wind farm went online in August and Catalina is set to start generating electricity by year’s end.
The wind in California tends to blow the strongest at night and in the winter while the sun obviously is at its strongest during the day and in the summer months. Combining the two resources in a single project allows for the more efficient use of transmission lines like the multibillion-dollar one being built to carry 4,500 megawatts of renewable energy from the Tehachapi to coastal metropolises.
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