Out of juice
Plans to create regionalized power grid tabled by state
SACRAMENTO – The tabling of a bill that would create a regionalized power grid including several western states has been lauded by the Imperial Irrigation District.
Assembly Bill 813 – which 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 – was denied a vote on the Senate Floor on Friday just before the end of the this year’s legislative session.
This is the third year in a row that bills aiming to create a regionalized power grid have been rejected by lawmakers.
The IID Board of Directors, during its regular meeting on July 25, voted unanimously in favor of a resolution opposing AB 813, which was authored by Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) and supported by Gov. Jerry Brown.
“IID was amongst a large coalition of stakeholders who opposed AB 813 because of its negative impacts to ratepayers, the renewable energy industry and overall clean energy policies across the entire state,” Marion Champion, IID media communications officer, told Imperial Valley Press via email Tuesday. “The legislature and its leadership were not persuaded by the proponents of this bill and in the end decided to kill it. IID applauds them for taking a bold stand and guarding California’s energy independence.”
AB 813 would have taken 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 have said.
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, such a system could potentially source a large amount of electricity from fossil fuels instead of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, IID officials have said.
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 coal-based energy generation.
FERC, under the direction of the Trump Administration, would likely favor coal, Maria C. Severson, an attorney based in San Diego that consults the IID, has said.
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. PacifiCorp is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which is controlled by Warren Buffett.
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.
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. Chris mcDaniel can be contacted at (760) 3373440 or via email at cmcdaniel@ivpressonline.com