Posted on 09/10/2018 8:18:50 AM PDT by reaganaut1
California Democrats pose as green saints, though their climate and social-justice values often conflict. The latest example is the legislature’s plan to banish fossil fuels from the state electrical grid, which progressives aim to export nationwide.
Most states are enjoying flat or declining electricity rates thanks to shale fracking, which has sent natural gas prices plummeting. But not California, where rates have jumped 25% since 2013. Electricity prices in the Golden State are by far the highest in the continental western U.S. and twice as high as in Washington state.
The reason: California requires that 50% of power be generated from renewables such as solar and wind by 2030. Democrats recently passed legislation establishing a 100% requirement for 2045. Even Governor Jerry Brown ought to realize this energy experiment will punish Californians who can’t afford to live in Marin or Malibu.
Renewable prices have dropped thanks to technological improvements and cheap Chinese solar panel imports. The wholesale price of solar energy with the 30% federal tax credit is now nearly comparable to fossil fuels. But renewables impose other costs.
Start with backup power, which is needed when the sun isn’t shining. A 100% mandate would require natural gas plants that currently provide backup power—many recently constructed—to be retired and replaced with enormous batteries. Customers will pay for the stranded plants and the batteries, which will have to be replaced periodically.
Even batteries probably won’t capture all of the surplus solar energy pouring onto the grid on sunny days. So the state will have to find another outlet to avoid overloading the grid. In recent years California has paid Arizona to absorb its excess energy.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
It would be so much fun if they actually did it.
They should do it then.
The Party of Bans.
So next they will say that if I dare venture across the border that not only must I leave my guns, fruits and veggies, but also my gas-powered car?
Democrat Battle Cry: Ban all the things!
They will just import “dirty” power at very expensive rates but still feel good about themselves
Some people still wonder why I left the land of fruits and nuts. It’s run by lunatics.
They’re watermelon communists - green on the outside, red in the middle.
Will the nighttime satellite photo of California soon look like that of North Korea?
Even Exxon acknowledges that electric cars will replace gasoline cars by 2045 while others say 2035.
If China follows thru on their electric car mandates, the number of electric cars on the roads will begin to affect the price of oil/gasoline in 2025.
My electricity rates have not gone down. Shale fracking or not.
That's exactly what it's designed to do.........Plato's Atlantis...................
This from a state that just polluted more than all the coal plants since we started making electricity. The fires where devastating to the environment.
Electric utilities buy really expensive assets like coal or nuclear plants. They are really, really expensive, so they plan to amortize the costs over decades, 30-40 years. When governments come in and make arbitrary changes, like “50% solar in ten years”, utilities have to stop using their really expensive assets before they have been amortized, and buy more really expensive assets. This drives electric rates as consumers pay for the power plants they use plus the ones they don’t.
Encourage them.
It would be fun to watch California turn conservative when nobody can drive.
How will they get around in their limos, jets, & ferraris?
It’s too bad California had to be destroyed for fake causes. California was once a shining state. Now California is a stink hole.
Who’s stopping them? Go for it California - fight your way to the bottom.
It’s like a chapter from “Atlas Shrugged”.
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