In the United States, California is leading the shift away from fossil fuels. In 2002, it passed a law requiring its utilities to acquire at least 20% of their energy from wind, solar, geothermal, or other renewable sources. In 2018, it upped the ante again.
In September 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed a policy requiring the state’s electric grid to be carbon-free by 2045—100%. It also raised the renewable 2030 goal from 50% to 60%. (Right now, the grid is between 30% and 40% renewable). From an environmental standpoint, this is a huge step forward since California has the world’s 5th largest economy and it is expected to double by 2045. This new mandate is not without problems, however. California’s electric grid has trouble handling today’s energy, let alone twice that. The shift from gasoline to electric cars will add even more stress to the grid. Also, renewable energy production is notoriously uneven and storing electricity doubles its cost.
To resolve these problems, the governor has proposed merging 38 state-run energy management regions into a single entity that covers the entire western United States. This would allow for continuous redirecting and rebalancing of electricity from far more sources. Governor Brown is also betting that innovation will deliver even more results—and the business community seems to be on-board: in 2017, half the nation’s total private energy investment, $1.4 billion, was made in California.
All of these are signs-of-the-times. That the once fiercely independent state would propose a power grid merger is especially noteworthy. That the business community is on-board makes it more likely to happen. And while it may take time for the rest of the country to catch-up, it doesn’t appear this new direction is going to change—it’s only pointing forward.
Reference:
Steven Mufson, “California Vows to Make Power Grid Carbon Free,” Washington Post, 23 September 2018, G2.
Dino Grandoni, “The Energy 202: California pledges carbon-free electricity by 2045. Gov. Brown says: “This is not a one-off.” Washington Post, 11 Sep 2018, retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/09/11/the-energy-202-california-pledges-carbon-free-electricity-by-2045-gov-brown-says-this-is-not-a-one-off/5b96c5d11b326b47ec959518/
Ivan Penn, “California Wants to Reinvent the Power Grid. So What Could Go Wrong?,” New York Times, 20 July 2018, retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/business/energy-environment/california-energy-grid-jerry-brown-plan.html
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