This is wild. I was surfing California's live wholesale electricity pricing. Every dot on this map is selling power at NEGATIVE prices. The most negative is -$0.13/kwh (aka -$130/MWh).
So if you own storage, they PAY YOU to take the electricity off their hands. Then PAY YOU to buy it back at peak demand prices later. It's an infinite money glitch. And it's real.
This is a normal market condition down there, due to high solar/wind usage and a lack of storage. Big supply/demand discrepancies. Combine this with the inelasticity of electricity prices and you get negative pricing during high supply, and sky rocketing prices during demand surges. Spikes like you can't even fathom. And as the electrification transition progresses, this will only get worse. The less storage and stability of that grid, the crazier those buy/sell spreads widen. When more storage comes online, buy/sell spreads narrow and stabilize. It's a simple pricing signal.
This is why I'm so bullish on Cedar Lake Pumped-Hydro Storage. By having large storage available, Manitoba capitalizes on these wild pricing inefficiencies that exist from wind/solar. Big money to be made.
View the live price map here if you wish:
https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/prices