Gov. Gavin Newsom’s appointees concluded we still need them — at least for a few more years — to avoid blackouts that could strand millions of people without air conditioning during brutal heat waves and endanger Californians who depend on medical devices powered by electricity…
The three gas plants were originally supposed to shut down three years ago, as the Golden State worked to generate ever-larger amounts of electricity from solar panels, wind turbines and other climate-friendly power sources. But after two evenings of brief rolling blackouts in August 2020, the water board decided to give the gas plants a three-year shutdown extension.
Newsom’s appointees initially expressed confidence that California would be able to build enough clean energy resources by the end of 2023 to close the polluting generators in Huntington Beach, Long Beach and Oxnard before the new deadline.
A similar backtrack happened last year, when the state reversed course and is now letting the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant continue to operate for a few more years.
Sorta. Years ago on the now-defunct Climate Change board I posted an article about the decision to not build new modern gas plants. There was a quote from one engineer involved who said it was crazy. I agreed.
And in news out of Belgium that should surprise nobody…
A total of 13% more CO2 emissions came from electricity production in Belgium in the first half of the year, compared to the same period the year before. This is a significant increase and experts are pointing to Belgium’s nuclear phase-out as the culprit.
In a study published by Ghent University and shared by De Standaard, researchers blame this increase in CO2 emissions on the controversial closure of nuclear reactors Doel 3 and Tihange 2. The first reactor closed on 23 September 2022 and the second on 1 February 2023.
State officials voted Thursday to let Southern California Gas Co. store far more fuel at the Aliso Canyon gas storage field…
t’s been two years since the Public Utilities Commission raised the storage cap at Aliso Canyon — which had been cut after the methane leak — to 41 billion cubic feet. Now the agency has upped the limit to the 68.6 billion cubic feet requested by SoCalGas and its sister utility, San Diego Gas & Electric — the maximum amount deemed safe by another state agency.
CA is still in the processing of building its clean energy infrastructure. CA has always had to rely on natural gas for the transition period from natural gas to clean energy. The power generation sector continues to build new renewable energy, energy storage facilities, and upgrading the grid transmission. The transportation sector is on its way to electrification. Industrial, commercial and residential sectors are also on their way to electrification.