Too much Green Power?

It seems there can be too much green power at times. In June 2010 up in the Pacific North West, the wind was blowing and rain was falling out of the sky in large proportions. With all this green energy from a good sized summer storm, windmills and hydro electric stations were spinning up excess electricity at a time when there was not much demand.

What is a utility to do? Is there a way to store all this energy?

Bonneville Power has developed ways of remotely turning up water heaters and other home devices to make use of this excess energy, storing it in a way that the home owner is unaffected. Mixing valves keep the hot water at a safe level while the hot water tank may be 50 or 60 degrees above normal. The excess energy is saved and will be used later.

This is a great example of a utility thinking out side the box and creating new policies as green power generators become a greater percentage of the overall power generated.

We all need to think forward and create methods for creating and storing energy in an efficient manner.