The horizontal axis of the table shows hours of the day (1 to 24)

The vertical axis shows megawatts in increments of 100.

The yellow line is solar power in megawatts per hour.

The light blue line is wind power in megawatts per hour.

The brown line near the bottom is constant renewable power from geothermal and biomass power plants — it shows that this type of power is relatively flat and regular.

The next line up from the bottom is a dark blue line that is also relative constant from hydropower.

The next line up is gray in color and reflects natural gas power which is also relatively constant.

The only sources of power that vary greatly per hour are wind (light blue) and solar (yellow).

The table is from the Independent System Operator – the state grid operator.

The table stops at hour 16 (4 o’clock in the afternoon on Aug. 9) 

I’ve heard that PG&E won’t let you do this. You’d think that since we pay some of the highest rates in the country and our rulers want us to use “green” energy they’d do everything they could to encourage people to generate and sell excess capacity to the utilities.

This is great —- and the timing is PERFECT as everyone sweats and worries about the whole thing collapsing —- and FOR WHAT? For reduced productivity, increased expense (that we can’t afford), fears of unreliability, and having to obsess about something that shouldn’t even be a thought that crosses our minds in the course of a day, that we should be able to completely take for granted in the year 2012 in the United States of America, for crying out loud??
What strikes me most about what you’ve written here is that like everything else these people do, their huge effort and obsession with wind and solar that consumes all our money and attention — and will only get worse — is like spitting in the ocean compared to the huge engine that ACTUALLY make things run. I mean, what solar and wind produces (at the wrong times) is a drop in the ocean OF THE SURPLUS CUSHION ALONE! – never mind 47,000 MW of expected demand.
We simply CAN’T CONTINUE with these “green power” mandates. The numbers for their pittance of power are laughable. And by the way last time I checked hydropower isn’t even considered “green.”
Excellent point for the ‘corporate haters’ – amongst many:
Greenies may detest “smokestack” industries but it is mostly such industries that make it so homes can continue to run air conditioning during heat waves.

Please tell me they don’t make them that small.