Atlas Trail
Follow one day of electricity in seven stops: the machine that spans a continent, the evening hours that stress it, the duck-shaped dent solar has put in its day, and the stores, turbines and willing customers that carry it through to midnight.
Stop 1 of 7.
Concepts
The stage for the whole day: generators, wires and substations keeping supply and demand in balance second by second.
Stop 2 of 7.
Concepts
Early evening, when cooling, cooking and lighting stack together: the hours that set the price and decide how much capacity must exist.
Stop 3 of 7.
Concepts
What solar has done to the day: net load sags at noon and climbs steeply at sunset, an outline California's grid operator watched deepen year by year.
Stop 4 of 7.
Concepts
The demand side answers: customers paid to step back for an hour spare the grid its most expensive generation.
Stop 5 of 7.
Technologies
The deep store: water pumped uphill at noon runs back down through turbines at dusk, still the largest form of grid storage.
Stop 6 of 7.
Technologies
The shallow store: spinning rotors that catch and return seconds of energy, fast enough to steady the grid's heartbeat.
Stop 7 of 7.
Technologies
When all else is spent, the peakers: jet engines bolted to the ground, burning gas for the last, costliest hours of the evening.
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