The rolling electrical blackouts that hit California in mid-August were a warning of a problem that had been developing for years. By now I assume climate change was blamed, or wildfires, or maybe even President Trump. The actual cause is political hacks committing California to phasing out nuclear and hydrocarbon-powered electricity generation, in favor of “renewables — primarily solar panels and wind turbines.
One nuclear plant, San Onofre, has been shuttered, and the other, Diablo Canyon, is scheduled to shut down in a few years. California buys "surplus" electricity from neighboring states. But those states are moving to more solar and wind power too, so there's not enough "surplus" power available to California, from those states, when there is a multi-state heat wave. California shuns imported power generated by coal. And their own natural gas-fired plants are planned to be closed eventually. Not smart. Solar and wind power require 100% non solar and wind backup power plants.
California electricity generated by the sun and wind has been increased with the goal of achieving 100% renewables by 2045. On some days, California generates more sun and wind power than it can consume. But the sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow. The August rolling blackouts were during a heat wave that increased demand from residential, industrial and commercial air conditioners, to very high levels, (peaks in late afternoons, and early evenings, when solar power was declining).
California’s Independent System Operator (ISO) found that neighboring states were experiencing the heat wave too, so surplus electricity was in short supply, and selective rolling blackouts were needed to prevent a California system-wide crash. The last time California experienced blackouts was two decades earlier, and the governor at the time, Gray Davis, was recalled.
Governor Newsom directed the ISO, the Public Utilities Commission and the Energy Commission to investigate causes, declaring, “These blackouts, which occurred without prior warning or enough time for preparation, are unacceptable and unbefitting of the nation’s largest and most innovative state. This cannot stand.”
The agencies quickly responded, “We are working closely as joint energy organizations to understand exactly why these events occurred. The grid conditions of August 14 and 15 … were high, but not above similar hot days in prior years.”
The ISO had been warning state politicians for a long time that California would face a supply crunch under the circumstances that occurred in August 2020. With more renewables in Californis, and neighboring states, the problem only gets worse.
Meanwhile, the Water Resources Control Board is now deciding whether four gas-fired plants in Southern California that use seawater for cooling should be closed, as long planned. The Public Utilities Commission and the ISO want to keep them on-line a few years longer, citing the need for flexibility. Environmental groups are opposed, of course.
The cause of the California rolling blackouts, predicted many years in advance, are science-ignorant politicians trying to be 'green'. I say ignorant, because, as we all know:
"It's a scientific fact that if you stay in California, you lose one point of your IQ every year." Truman Capote