Statewide goal: carbon free by 2045
Studies show those in rural areas often bear brunt of disasters
Moving to a clean energy grid is the state’s climate goal — and climate advocates say counties like Butte, having faced disasters worsened by climate change, is on the front lines of climate change.
The California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission and California Air Resources Board released the first joint agency report this week, examining how the state’s electricity system can become carbon free by 2045.
The report is the initial analysis called for in Senate Bill 100, the state’s landmark policy signed into law in 2018 requiring renewable and zero-carbon energy resources to supply 100% of electric retail sales to customers by 2045 and replace fossil fuels for generating electricity.
The report finds goals of the law can be achieved in different ways, but will
require significant investments in new and existing technologies and an increased, sustained buildout of clean energy projects to bring resources online.
It’s an ambitious goal given the diversity of the state’s cities in their preexisting approach towards a clean grid before 2018.
“We all realize climate change is happening,” Patrick Sinclair, Executive Director of California Alliance for Renewable Energy Solutions for four years, said.
“It ’ s changing the weather patterns and we need to react better to it, and plan for the unplanned.”
“What I’ve seen is a kind of dance that happens between the agencies and the energy businesses,” he added. The “load serving” utilities controlling the power grid, like PG& E, are all in various stages of financial struggles — even facing legal battles about culpability during climate disasters and wildfires.
“They’re always looking to bring the lowest cost to their consumers.”
So bold incentives have to made, particularly in areas like in Northern California accustomed to years of extremely destructive wildfire seasons, to begin to work on the grid.
“The more you can bring renewable energy into the Northern California area, the more you will not have to rely on those sorts of things,” Sinclair said. He acknowledged rural areas such as the Sacramento Valley do not get the same attention as coastal and metropolitan areas.
Extreme ranges in disparity, between the wealthy and very poor, in many regions of the state also factors in, he said. Areas like Chico are just as susceptible to issues with developer “sprawl” of new expensive subdivisions, in close proximity to very rural, underserved communities with high poverty rates and a lack of infrastructure.
Those who prefer a rural existence often bear the brunt of disasters arising from climate disasters, he said. This also makes it an indigenous people’s issue, particularly when fires destroy the traditional lands of tribes — like the Maidu of the north state — and when renewable projects are placed on land “that often is going to involve artifacts from indigenous tribes.”
“It’s their land, ultimately, that gets turned over to create projects,” Sinclair said.
That’s why communities benefit from comprehensive reports like the latest from the joint state agencies, to battle misinformation with real data.
“Fighting misinformation is key when it becomes real, like with fires or bad air or water shortages,” he said, adding it was “when the fires hit, that people really started to get it.”
Creation of jobs from clean energy and helping small businesses will be key for rural areas, like Chico, which have had less help from the state.
Without that help, “Small businesses … can’t afford to make the changes,” he said. “They need help bearing the burden of climate change, which falls onto the backs of lower income communities, smaller businesses — people who don’t have the bandwidth to absorb higher costs.”
A more concentrated effort for incentivizing “gets them on the grid, makes them green, but financially gives them some support.”
Chico action
Chico’s Climate Action Commission is developing a comprehensive strategy for how Chico can join the clean grid movement for electrification and reaching climate action goals.
On March 11, the hired firm HIP Investor Inc. presented a draft for multiple ways to lower carbon in the city within reach, including incentivizing businesses and creating community projects.
Vice- chair Mark Stemen said the first step is really to “stop putting in more fossil fuel infrastructure that we’ll have to abandon or remove” in order to begin to “decarbonize” the grid and follow the state goals for using electricity for 100% of all power usage.
While that is clearly the path it is not going to be easy. Is the market as they say ready for this? Do we have that much electricity?
“No, we’re not ready yet,” he admitted, calling it “this generation’s moon shot.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t do it yet. When Kennedy said ‘ we’re going to go to the moon,’ half the technology was not ready.”
While development carbon-heavy housing a housing crisis is an of in issue, Stemen said there are always ways to seek clean building as a long term investment.
“We need housing that people and the environment can afford,” he said. “We can’t be building in the same 20th century mindset that got us into this problem.”
The draft Climate Action Plan points out opportunities where businesses can benefit from incentives to use more renewable energy sources, and create more local job.
Stemen said the new plan makes these goals more reachable, and hopes the community will review it and start to engage with the commission more.
Public input on the plan will be opened in April. The commission is still drafting the official Climate Action Plan for formal acceptance.
Highlights from the state’s first joint agency report include:
• To reach the 2045 target while electrifying sectors to meet the state’s climate goals, California must roughly triple its current electricity grid capacity; • California will need to sustain expansion of clean electricity generation capacity at a record-breaking rate for the next 25 years — on average, to build up to six gigawatts of new renewable and storage resources annually;
• Over the next three years, electricity providers will add another 8 gigawatts of clean energy resources; • Transitioning to a carbonfree electric system will also create thousands of jobs such as manufacturing and installing wind turbines and solar panels and developing new clean energy technologies;
• Modeling of the core scenario for achieving 100 percent clean electricity showed a 6 percent increase in total annual electricity system costs by 2045, compared to the estimated cost of achieving 60 percent renewable electricity by 2030;
• Advancements in new technologies, increased demand flexibility and cost declines in existing technologies may decrease total electricity resource requirements and implementation costs;
• Using clean electricity to power transportation, buildings and industrial operations will lessen carbon usage in these sectors which along with electricity generation account for 92% of state carbon emissions.
“We know reaching carbon neutrality is critical to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change and achieving our climate goals,” California Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph said in a news release. “Zero- carbon electricity is also critical for displacing combustion of fossil gas and petroleum to deliver needed public health benefits, especially in our frontline communities.”
Although the report examines challenges and opportunities for a carbonfree electricity system, the three agencies highlight that it is only a first step in an ongoing effort.
The report notes costs, performance and innovations in zero- carbon technologies will change over the next 25 years. Ations are being implemented to prevent electricity shortages and ensure delivery of clean, reliable and affordable energy — such as expediting regulatory and procurement processes to develop additional resources that can be online by summer 2021.
California Air Resources Board will also begin the process to update the Assembly Bill 32 Climate Change Scoping Plan and consider acting on the scoping plan in late 2022.