by Joakim Book
The American Institute for Economic Research
Electricity has the difficult characteristic of having to be consumed whenever it’s produced. Storing it, for instance in batteries, is a costly technological endeavor. For most of its 150-odd year history, electricity grids had good control over supply — crank up the dials, burn more fuel, run more turbines — but had to forecast the demand, always anticipating and micromanaging ever-so-slight changes in usage.
Some patterns are simple enough. We consume more electricity in the mornings and early evenings than during the middle of the night, more electricity during a dark, cold winter day than a mild spring day. (California’s Duck curve is a beautiful illustration.) Then there are the occasional odd quirks, like millions of households simultaneously turning on their kettles during the commercial breaks of the Super Bowl, or some other event drawing enough eyeballs to put us in spontaneous sync.