> Enron

"Quien se quemó con leche, ve una vaca y llora."

It can seem weird to have an excess of power availability, but it's a consequence of electric power not being easily stored -- electricity is just a good energy _transmission_ system. While using electrostatics (batteries) is possible for storing very small amonts of energy, when you think at a state or country scale, it's just too much to store.

This means excess energy must be either immediately consumed, or transformed in order to store it. The most common storage system would be gravity -- build a pump right besides your dam, and pump water upstream so you can use it later when power is not readily available. There are already some reservoirs using this -- at least one in Wales and I've recently read they'd like to build one in Hoover Dam. It's not simple though, because usually water is left to fall yet another bit right after the dam, so a second reservoir right below the dam would be needed.

So, what does a negative price mean. As the article puts it, its a signal from the grid that it has no use for your energy, _right now_, as there's an excess of generation. But if untapped, wind and solar will be just lost, so why not offer it to the users.

As renewables continue to grow, probably more storages will get built that can buy that excess and this anomaly will cease.

To save you the Google tour:

> Quien se quemó con leche, ve una vaca y llora.

This appears to be a saying that corresponds to the English saying "A burnt child dreads the fire."

But the literal translation is "That who has been burn with milk, watches a cow and cries". Much funnier

What problem are you talking about? I'm not getting any problem from the article at all, except the structural (and well-known) problem of a lot of our power infrastructure being designed for more predictable output patterns than we have today.

It's fairly typical 'state of the industry' coverage, with no real surprises.

Yes, someone (thing?) is gaming the system: cheaper renewable energy generation assets, and thus, weather (which is inherently unpredictable). When the sun is shining and wind is gusting isn't always at highest demand, which depresses rates during these totally unanticipated spikes in supply. Unless someone is playing God with the weather, I don't think there's a finger to point here.

I suspect the same thing. There's NEVER anything in this industry that is a coincidence. You might not get a lot of people agreeing with you right now, but just wait a few months and your comment will be spot on.