It's incredible to me that California's primary generation source is cyclical solar — which it primarily offloads to PNW [0], who offsets any missing California solar with its MASSIVE Columbia River Hydro.

Essentially co-dependant renewables, the entirety of West Coast through Colorado balancing primarily between solar and hydro (and natgas peakers). Nothing like Québec (¡hydro!), but still something.

[0] <https://i.imgur.com/QMclWZu.png> grey "other" line == sold to neighboring grids

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If ERCOT ("Texas") would get over their independant grid "benefits" [i.e. not having to follow federal regulations], they could be sloshing their primarily wind-derived kWHs into an even more-beautiful grid of flowing renewables.

Instead, 10-year winter storms risk hundreds dead and billion$ lo$t.

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TVA is in planning stages for its second massive pump-storage facility — but Texas is probably wiser in its nascent battery storage investment [1], instead. TVA's Racoon Mountain Pumphouse is definitely impressive, but with all the upcoming "depleted" car batteries being reconditioned into the stationary electric storage market... water power storage is probably the more environmentally-damaging method (definitely more expensive?).

[1] <https://imgur.com/a/Nm0TFs1>

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Screenshots via <https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electr...>

[nerd warning: my favorite real-time dataset]

US Lower-48 Primary Energy Sourcing: <https://i.imgur.com/BWXugy2.png>

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My layperson recommendations to industry [I'm blue-collar, electrician]: reduce coal, increase nuclear; increase micro battery storage (e.g. see Chattanooga's EPB implementations); maintain but stop building dams/pumped storage.

Solar/wind/nuclear/nat.gas will be able to run everything once we have enough battery storage to handle daily peaks. In a few more years we will be entirely able to remove our dependance from toxic coal [2]

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfvBx4D0Cms