In today’s youth sports complex, the year around activity tied to club (not high school) as teams traveling around the country playing in what are called showcase events.  This is where a large complex such as multiple acres where twenty some soccer fields are outline, a convention center that has volleyball poles and lines marked on the rubber mats that were laid down over the carpet or massive buildings that focus on basketball.  The objective of each showcase event is to get a conglomerate of teams in one city where coaches from universities or professional teams can come to observe the style of play by individuals and talk to players they are interested in.  The events typically last a long weekend where teams fly in on Thursday, start play on Friday and finish off the weekend on Sunday afternoon/early evening.

Figure 1 | Showcase Events

In the energy space, each day showcases a balancing act that adjusts according to the weather, thermal availability and the ever-growing renewable penetration.  Over years, the renewable presence has moved away from start-up mode to full on transition where the quantity level is having an impact on the hourly shape of net power profile and what type of flexible generation is needed to keep the lights on.  There are times when Mother Nature extends the power demand via warmer than normal temperatures over a period of days within a region while other times the weather pattern reduces the demand profile.  The former is typical in the summer months while the latter tends to lean towards the fall and winter periods, except for the fact that fires and hurricane season are in full force the back half of August and all of September.  September 2024 is no different than other months as it showcased a time where hurricanes were the bookends while heat splashed around with California’s coastal region seeing its hottest days in over a decade while the central vertical third of the Lower 48 continued to be presented with the biggest star of them all, the sun.