Imperial Irrigation District directors approve resolution opposing regionalization of power grid
EL CENTRO — If the goal of creating a regionalized power grid including several western states is to ensure more energy is sourced from renewable generation, then Assembly Bill 813 falls woefully short, Imperial Irrigations officials believe.
AB 813, currently in committee, would expand the California Independent System Operator into a multi-state regional electrical transmission organization that would include Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Electricity generated from within those states, regardless if sourced from renewable or non-renewable generation, could make its way to California.
The IID Board of Directors, during its regular meeting on July 25, voted unanimously in favor of a resolution opposing AB 813.
Loss of control
AB 813 would take away local independence in lieu of more direct government control through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, since the proposed regionalized power grid would be considered interstate commerce and therefore be subject to regulatory control by the federal government, IID officials said.
“If we [import electricity] from out of state, we are not under California regulations; we are under FERC,” Bruce Kuhn, Division 2 director, said during the July 25 meeting. “FERC sets the rules. We can’t tell other states what to do. There is not a wall around California that protects us just within ourselves. You start bringing in this stuff from outside, you have no say where it comes from. None.”
That could potentially mean that such electricity is not sourced from renewable energy, but instead from fossil fuels.
“There will be an increase, most likely in coal and natural gas usage,” Maria C. Severson, an attorney based in San Diego that consults the IID, said during the meeting. “There is a conflicting goal of California trying to increase and work towards its green energy goals, going to 50 percent if not 100 percent renewables. Here we have IID rich in geothermal, and the regionalization would look outside our state borders … in order to get energy with a promise that it will be [renewable]. The problem with that … is that while we are working here towards 100 percent carbon [reduction], the governor would surrender the right to control to this [proposed] regional body.”
Lone operator
California ISO currently is the only independent grid operator in the western United States, and grants equal access to about 26,000 circuit miles of transmission lines, according to its website. The ISO in 1998 opened two control centers after the state restructured its wholesale electricity industry in response to passage of the federal Energy Policy Act of 1992, which addressed the wholesale electrical generation business.
The ISO manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage, long-distance power lines that represent about 80 percent of California’s power grid, as well as a small portion of Nevada’s grid.
While utilities such as IID still own transmission assets, the ISO controls the routing of electrons. If regionalized, there is no way to ensure such electrons are from renewable sources.
Montana and Wyoming, which would be included in the regional ISO, produce 45 percent of all coal mined in the United States, according to Greenpower, a non-profit organization based in Santa Cruz opposed to regionalization of the power grid, and would likely be highly incentivized to promote coalbased energy generation.
Energy from coal plants “is going to be imported into California,” Severson said. “That not only goes against our green energy goals, it might require California to subsidize and pay for the infrastructure to develop those assets in other states. That would mean a loss of jobs here and it certainly would mean forgoing a good look at geothermal and getting it into the mix.”
FERC, under the direction of the Trump Administration, would likely favor coal, Severson said.
“Under the current federal policies, under [President Donald] Trump’s control, there is a position that is strong on coal, and to help out the coal resources,” she said. “PacifiCorp is behind this regionalization and stands to gain big if it goes forward. PacifiCorp has 80 percent of its makeup in coal.”
PacifiCorp, which operates in six western states including Washington, Oregon and California, in April 2015 reached an agreement with the California ISO to explore the feasibility and benefits of joining the ISO.
“We remain convinced that increased regional coordination of energy systems is key to helping keep costs affordable for customers, ensuring and enhancing grid reliability and allowing states and the region to best meet clean energy goals and requirements,” Stefan Bird, president and CEO of Pacific Power, said in a press release after the agreement was reached in 2015.
Powerful proponents
In addition to PacifiCorp, several powerful organizations support regionalization of the western power grid, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Council on Renewable Energy.
NRDC’s official stance is that claims stating a regionalized power grid would undermine California’s clean energy laws and policies are not supported by evidence.
“An expanded California Independent System Operator covering more of the West, like all organizations doing business in California, would be bound by California laws,” Carl Zichella wrote in a blog posted June 18 on the NRDC website. “No state clean energy requirements would be eliminated.”
Furthermore, Zichella stated, regionalization would not increase the likelihood of federal pre-emption challenges to California’s energy procurement and resource planning policies.
“The risk of federal pre-emption to California’s policies is not affected by expansion, as legal analyses from Yale University’s Environmental Protection Clinic and prominent California legal experts have shown,” he said. “California’s ISO is already subject to federal regulation, and enhanced grid integration will not change the nature or scope of that oversight.”
In a joint statement issued in April, Gregory Wetstone, ACORE president and CEO, and Todd Foley, ACORE senior vice president, said that regionalization will promote de-carbonization and bolster economic development.
“The additional flexibility created by an expanded grid will increase reliability, promote a decarbonized and affordable energy mix for consumers and businesses throughout the West, and drive continued infrastructure investment and economic development in California,” they said. “In 2017, more than $40 billion was invested to support 18.4 gigawatts of new U.S. renewable power generation. Renewable energy is a powerful economic driver in the West, and the solar industry alone employs over 86,000 Californians.”
According to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, one gigawatt is equivalent to the output of a 1.3 million horsepower automobile engine.
Cutting costs and pollution
A study conducted by California ISO, undertaken to comply with 2015’s California Senate Bill 350, determined regionalization would provide an annual savings to California ratepayers of up to $1.5 billion by 2030, saving individual ratepayers up to $550 over the course of that year.
The study also determined that regionalization would also reduce greenhouse gas emission by up to 6 million metric tons by 2030, which represents about 8 percent to 10 percent of total emissions from the electric sector.
“California ISO has an economic study … that purports to show that $1.5 billion in savings will accrue to California between now and 2030,” Kevin E. Kelley, IID general manager, said during the regular meeting. “The way they propose to do it is really quite cynical. It is to export all of the procurement, or virtually all the procurement, from out of state and all of the environmental impacts.”
In essence, California would be able to cut emissions here at the expense of pollution being generated in other states, Kelley said.
Kuhn went one step further.
“If California wanted to go 100 percent green [energy] all they have to do is pass a law that outlaws every single generating unit we have in the state,” he said. “Just shut ‘em down. And then we could import all of our power from other states. Look at all the air pollution we could eliminate overnight. We could import [energy] from other states [and] could basically crap in their backyard [and] not our own. That makes everything sweet. That is just about what this thing says, all over it.”
The full text of the IID resolution opposing regionalization can be read online at https://www.iid.com/aboutiid/board-of-directors/meeting-documents/-toggle-allpast. It is located on pages 113 and 114 of the July 25 board agenda.