Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Spilling: data mined messaging for me, to you

This Labour day I've returned to some past databases. One self-imposed task is continuing to add to the data of hourly Ontario electricity generation that begins September 1st, 2010. I've queried the data and created some graphics, many of which simply reinforced old messaging I've written on, repeatedly. However, the messages could use reinforcement and one new graphic view gobsmacked me, demanding a quick post.

Years ago it occurred to me to try to reproduce work done at Oxford with Ontario data - which provided the basis for a series of posts on the cost of of industrial wind in my province. I continued capturing the generation data and added estimates of more obscure statistics, including hourly solar generation and curtailed supply. Today I looked at hourly average figures comparing my first 12-months of data (September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011) and the corresponding dates for the recently completed 12-months.

Here's the graph, of changes over the past 4 years, that grabbed my attention:
For those slower to get their angry geek going, Ontario's hydro looks like it's being sacrificed due to extraordinarily expensive solar power.