Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The utter failure of renewables to deliver during the Californian heatwave appears to be creating a surge of interest in reliable energy.
California Blackouts: It’s Not Just the Heat, It’s Also the Anti-Nuclear Power Stupidity
Activists oppose a huge source of reliable, climate-friendly electricity that could have prevented the rolling blackouts in the Golden State.
RONALD BAILEY | 8.19.2020 12:31 PM
Rolling electric power blackouts afflicted as many as 2 million California residents last week as a heat wave gripped the Golden State. (It’s apparently eased up for now.) At the center of the problem is that power demand peaks as overheated people turn up their air conditioning in the late afternoon just as solar power supplies cut off as the sun goes down. In addition, output from California’s wind farms was erratic. Currently, about 33 percent of California’s electricity comes from renewable sources as mandated by state law. Until this summer, California utilities and grid operators were able to purchase extra electricity from other states, but the current heat wave stretches from Texas to Oregon so there was little to none available to make up for California’s power shortage.
…
Completely ignored in the reporting is that California has been shutting down a huge source of safe, reliable, always-on, non-carbon dioxide–emitting, climate-friendly electricity—that is, nuclear power. In 2013, state regulators forced the closing of the San Onofre nuclear power plant that supplied electricity to 1.4 million households. By 2025, California regulators plan to close down the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant that can supply electricity to 3 million households.
The problem of climate change, along with the blackouts resulting from the inherent vagaries of wind and solar power, are an indication that California should not only keep its nuclear power plants running but also build many more of them.
…
Renewables have failed to deliver this time, and will do so again.
Californian anger at the blackouts will eventually spill over into action, the scrapping of renewables in favour of reliable energy sources. The only question is, how many blackouts it will take before Californian voters get the message?
Like this:
Like Loading…
Related
via Watts Up With That?
August 20, 2020 at 08:24PM
You must be logged in to post a comment.