New record: SolarCity rooftop systems produced 4GWh in a single day last week
In April of 2014, SolarCity announced a new milestone: 3GWh of clean electricity generated by its solar systems in aggregate over a single day. But even that impressive number was just the beginning for 2014, since more solar power is generated during the summer, which is convenient because that's when the grid is most strained to provide electricity for people to run air conditioners. SolarCity went on to hit 3.5GWh days last summer, but even that has already been eclipsed and it's not even officially spring; last week, they hit a 4GWh day, a nice new round-number milestone.
As you can see in the graph below, solar electricity generation peaks every summer and then falls back down during the winter. We're barely in the upswing this year, so it wouldn't be surprising if 2015 saw days where 4.5 or even 5GWh of clean powered were generated by SolarCity. And this is just one company. There are many other rooftop solar installers, as well as utilities building solar farms.
SolarCity Blog/Screen capture
"The best part? Our customers didn’t have to burn anything, use a drop of water, or emit an ounce of carbon dioxide to produce this power. This is what the future looks like."
Indeed, the future will be clean!
Above is an older, analog power meter running backwards thanks to net-metering because a rooftop solar system is producing more power than the house is using. Don't you think that would feel good to see that at your house?