I have just returned from the beautiful state of Michigan, where I spent a week with family enjoying spectacular weather and scenery, to come back to the hell-scape of California.
Normally, I use the term “hell-scape” with some amount of poetic license. However, a massive heat wave has hit the region, and California’s policies mean that our energy suppliers can’t make up the 9 gigiwatt deficit in electricity that green energy schemes have created.
Other regions coping with extreme weather typically call on conventional power to meet demand. During a heatwave last year, nuclear plants helped keep the lights on in Paris. In London, utilities relied on coal and gas plants. But California, which has one of the cleanest grids in the country, has retired more than 9 gigawatts of gas generation in recent years in a bid to green its grid by 2045. While the state still gets more than a third of its power from gas, that isn’t always enough meet demand at peak hours — especially in the evening, when solar production wanes.So California, already at the forefront of the energy transition, has become a testing ground for achieving carbon neutrality quickly — an explicit goal of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The blackouts underscore how difficult that effort is, but may offer lessons for other economies with carbon-free ambitions.
President Donald Trump has declared the test a failure and is deriding the leading Democrats who have voiced unwavering and unquestioning support for progressive green energy schemes.
President Trump criticized Democrats’ energy policies Tuesday and blamed them for power shortages and historic rolling blackouts in the state of California sparked by an intense heatwave.The president said every American would face the same problem if Joe Biden were elected and able to implement the Green New Deal, pushed by the left flank of his party but defeated in the Senate last year.“In California, Democrats have intentionally implemented rolling blackouts — forcing Americans in the dark. Democrats are unable to keep up with energy demand,” the president tweeted Tuesday afternoon.“Meanwhile, I gave America energy independence in fact, so much energy we could never use it all. The Bernie/Biden/AOC Green New Deal plan would take California’s failed policies to every American!” he added.
I have reviewed the likely consequences of California energy policy a number of times for Legal Insurrection, especially in the context of energy firms having to sacrifice fire safety activities to comply with green mandates.
In fact, our coverage began shortly after I joined Legal Insurrection:
As an added bonus, the state’s political leaders have actively fought Trump as he has attempted to solve our energy problems:
Despite all of this analysis and accurate forecasting of consequences, Gov. Gavin Newsom is shocked and surprised our state is literally going back to the Dark Ages…and he is calling for a probe.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered an investigation into the blackouts and signed an emergency proclamation seeking to free up excess energy capacity.“These blackouts, which occurred without prior warning or enough time for preparation, are unacceptable and unbefitting of the nation’s largest and most innovative state,” Newsom wrote in an emergency proclamation. “This cannot stand.”
Perhaps Newsom should stop blaming corporate greed and start reading Legal Insurrection. It would certainly be less expensive than an official investigation, and would likely yield useful, functional, and successful energy policy guidelines.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY