Utility operators ready for a quick decline in solar power
As the eclipse moves across the country on Monday, solar panels are going to get a highly unusual midday break.
The event will test an electricity grid that increasingly depends on solar power, especially in states such as California and North Carolina. The sudden decline in electricity will give a jolt to the grid, creating a surge in demand for energy produced by backup power plants.
But grid managers and scientists have seen this Deline coming for years. They say the system is ready, and that people should just enjoy an amazing sight.
“Hopefully few people will be inside during this eclipse,” said Chris Deline, a staff engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden,
are towns such as Jackson, Wyoming, and Grand Island, Nebraska, which are squarely in the prime viewing path for the eclipse.
Unlike commercial flights, which operate on set routes and fixed times, NetJets flights are limited only by the imagination and the availability of a suitable airfield. The company has nearly 500 bookings to and from destinations in the path of the eclipse, flying to 59 airports.
“Everybody will get a flight, but we’ve been advising owners that it’s going to be a very busy time ... We’ve been suggesting that owners considering flying a day earlier or a day later if they don’t need to travel on Monday,” said Diana Oreck, executive vice president of owner experience for NetJets.
Oreck, by the way, joined NetJets from luxury hotel brand Ritz-Carlton, highlighting NetJets’ need to provide high-end customer service to its well-heeled owners.
On Monday, she said, there have been a number of requests for such eclipsetied food items as Moon Pies and Eclipse gum. The company will automatically supply eclipse-viewing glasses to those on flights to Jackson, Wyoming, the most popular eclipse destination on NetJets.
Oreck said NetJets always tries to glean information about the “context” of travel so they can cater to owners accordingly.
“If I know you’re traveling to a wedding versus a funeral, the crew is going to treat you differently,” she said.
One owner settled on going to Grand Island, Nebraska, to see the eclipse after chatting with a NetJets pilot who shared her fascination with astronomy. Captain Carl Walker will fly the owner there, where both of them plan to take photographs and enjoy the rare event.
NetJets has even set up a “war room,” Oreck said, where 20 or so workers at any given time are working among meteorology maps and banks of computers to track weather patterns and prepare for any special requests or itinerary changes that may arise.
“Things are going to be moving so fast,” she said. “But we’ll be ready.”