A major change is sweeping across the US power grid

You may have noticed that as people get older, sometimes they become a little more set in their ways. As we age, the natural inclination for most of us is that change is evil. Well, guess what people, we are living in an age of change across the board, and nothing seems to have Irritated the inner curmudgeon in us than the changes in the way we create and store energy. 

Where does your electricity come from? If you live in Chelan or Douglas counties, it's a very easy answer. It comes from hydropower. The chain of hydroelectric dams up and down the Columbia River creates a tremendous amount of electricity for central Washington and other parts of the state. We all accept this as a fact but keep it in mind when the push for public power in Chelan County was happening back in 1936 most of the people that were pushing this were considered communists by the average resident In Chelan County. 

Now we come to the modern era of windmills and solar farms. As it turns out, the United States has hit an interesting benchmark. 

According to msn.com,
‘According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, more than 30% of the nation's utility-scale electricity generation capacity comes from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydropower.’ 

Over the last eight months, I've made several trips either to the tri-cities or to Yakima, and one of the things That we've seen in the last few years is windmills in Ellensburg on the hills and the tri-cities. What is new is the arrival of a solar farm in Ellensburg. Now, granted, it's not a very big one, but it's there. As you're driving the I-90 corridor, you can look right over there and see it. Now what this state really needs is some utility grade battery storage systems. I don't see that happening anytime soon. 

30% renewable is a great number, even better is the idea that at the current pace we might hit 37% by the year 2037. 

Think about this, the last coal-fired power plant in the state of Washington is in Centralia and it is scheduled to be shut down in 2025. Washington State University in Pullman has a geothermal technologies program. There is potential for geothermal electricity generation in Washington state. Currently there are 597 geothermal zones listed on public lands that are currently available for exploitation. Less than .5% are actually being utilized. 

Yes, change can be evil, until it benefits you.
New data shows revolutionary change happening across US power grid: 'We never expected it would happen overnight'
Energy Infrastructure Update for October 2024 | Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
America's Electricity Generation Capacity Report, 2024 Update
Geothermal