California considers using fossil fuels to avoid blackouts during heat waves

In an effort to prevent power outages, California may turn to the only source of energy it is otherwise desperate to get rid of: fossil fuels.

A comprehensive energy proposal from Governor Gavin Newsom’s office would put the state in the business of buying energy to make sure there is enough to circulate during the heat waves that strain the grid. But some critics say the method to get there is at odds with the state’s broader climate goals, because it paves the way for the state to take advantage of old gas-fired power plants and add diesel-powered backup generators.

The debate highlights the challenge some states face as they strive to address it heat waves caused by climate change without compromising its promises of transition to non-fossil energy sources such as solar and wind.

California gets most of its energy from renewable sources during the day, but it still doesn’t have the storage to send enough solar power after sunset. The bill aims to speed up the construction of more renewable energy and storage facilities by removing local governments from decisions to allow. Supply chain problems are also holding back construction.

Newsom is expected to sign the bill Thursday after lawmakers approved it the night before.

Climate change Catch-22

“Climate change is maximizing our energy demands, so we need to provide more supply to meet that demand or we will face an unsustainable crisis in our communities. At the same time, we face the problems because we trust “too much in fossil fuels. That’s the obvious problem we’re in,” said Democratic state Sen. Dave Min, who represents Huntington Beach, a coastal community where there is a gas-fired power plant.

The problem is not unique to California. In New Mexico, a coal-fired power plant was scheduled to close its last two units Thursday. But a major utility company asked the state to keep a unit open until September to meet demands during the hot summer months, as solar storage and battery projects were to replace capacity. lost have been delayed.

State energy officials warned earlier this year that the state runs the risk of an energy deficit equivalent to what is needed to feed 1.3 million homes on the hottest days of summer. Newsom and lawmakers are desperate to avoid a scenario like August 2020, when hundreds of thousands of people temporarily lost power because there was not enough supply to circulate.

Newsom’s solution focuses on creating a “strategic reliability reserve” led by the Water Resources Department. The water agency has been given this role because it is a major producer and user of energy through its dams and the operation of the state’s water pumping system. This summer, the department could reimburse utilities if they have to buy additional power and add temporary power generators, including those running on fossil fuels. No diesel engine generator could be used beyond 2023.

Beyond that, the water department could build new power storage plants and zero-emission generators. It could also spend state money buying power at coastal gas plants that will close in 2023. The plants would close for the first time in 2020. Similarly, the department could continue to buy energy from the last nuclear power plant that remains out of state if kept open. beyond its closure in 2025.

Several Democratic lawmakers said the Newsom administration had assured them that any fossil fuel resource would be used as a last resort and that the bill would not give the water department the sole authority to extend the life of gas plants or nuclear installation.

“These are tough decisions that we will all have to contend with,” said Sen. Henry Stern, a Los Angeles County Democrat. “What this bill does is save time.”

Republican state senator Shannon Grove, who represents Bakersfield, rich in fossil fuels, said the legislation demonstrates that California needs oil and gas.

“If we don’t have these gas plants to turn on when we need them, you won’t be able to turn on the switch and get electricity,” he said.

Situation caused by “lack of ambition”

Meanwhile, environmental groups said the state should not rely on fossil fuels as support if it had moved faster to accumulate renewable resources and expressed concern that the bill would not put enough railings on the power of the state. water department. The department would not have to comply with California’s historic environmental law to move forward with new projects.

“The state says we have to rely on fossil energy and they don’t fully admit it’s because of this lack of ambition,” said Alexis Sutterman, energy equity manager for the California Environmental Justice Alliance.

Andrew Campbell, executive director of the Energy Institute at the University of California, Haas School of Business in Berkeley, said the water department’s new authority to buy energy is “very expansive and open” and something which “really deserves scrutiny.”

California, he said, is likely to be at the forefront of a challenge that is likely to affect other U.S. states as they move away from fossil fuels and increase the amount of energy needed from the grid.

“Developing a very clean electrical system and doing it reliably is a challenge that has not been solved anywhere,” he said. “And California, because it’s so far along with the development of renewable energy, is meeting that challenge sooner than elsewhere.”

In:
• Weather forecast
• Gavin Newsom
• civil rights
• California