Power Operators Eye Thermostat, Newsom Declares Emergency

Speaker 1: 00:00 This week's heat wave has forced Californians to take a closer look at its energy supplies and policymakers are scrambling to determine what really caused the blackouts last weekend and what needs to happen to avoid them in the future. Will we solve it with more conservation or will the energy supply system change KPBS environment report to Eric? Anderson's been following the changes in our energy use for years, and he joins us now welcome Eric Alison. So there seems to be some disagreement over what actually caused the energy shortfall and the coal for blackouts, you know, is it, is it the move to more sustainable energy sources like sun and wind, or is it not? Speaker 2: 00:37 Well, I think that question remains open for review, and unfortunately we can't look at the information, uh, that the independent system operator has and had to make use to make that decision because that information is not public. Uh, the agency that runs the California power grid is a private, not for profit agency. Uh, and so they don't have to, um, kind of reveal or, or are let everybody else know what it is they're looking at when they make these power supply issues. But we do know, and they have said publicly earlier this year that, uh, the power supply was going to be tight this year. Particularly if we get into a heat wave situation, like the one we're enduring. Now I talked to Severen Borenstein yesterday. He works with UC Berkeley, and he's also on the board of the California independent system operator. And he said there was no mystery that the power supplies were going to be tight. The CAISO puts out regular reports on how the state is doing in terms of capacity, uh, uh, acquisition. And in fact, in January the case put out its summer assessment, which said that summer 2020 could be very tight, uh, depending on how bad the weather is. And I think we've seen that because that's what happened this past weekend. And that's why we returned to rolling blackouts were really the first time since 2001. Speaker 1: 02:03 Well, if this is going to continue, what are some of the options facing California for, for resolving the power shortages at peak times? Speaker 2: 02:12 Um, that's a very good question. I think that the thing that the state has to do, or the people that manage the power grid have to do is, uh, is to maintain, uh, these, uh, steady power supply sources that they have. And, um, you know, the California independent system operator, uh, it doesn't buy the electricity. It doesn't go out and secure contracts for the electricity. It sort of manages, it's like a traffic cop, if you will, the utilities themselves, and any agency responsible for bringing power to customers, um, has a responsibility to not only get 100% of the expected peak for any particular day or a period of time, but they're also required to have another 15% of power reserves available. And that seems to be where the problem occurred. Uh, although I said earlier, we can't really look at the ISO books to find out exactly, but that seems to be where the power, uh, problem came from is that, uh, that those reserves, which are utilities are required to buy, uh, just weren't there when they were needed. And that's why we went to this rolling blackouts issue. Speaker 1: 03:16 So you were saying it's to do with the reserves. So what about people calling for a return to natural gas or nuclear, um, you know, give up our policy of moving away from fossil fuels? Speaker 2: 03:27 Sure. Um, that's a, you hear that from, uh, different, uh, parts of the energy marketplace as well. Uh, the advantage of those sources of course, is the fact that they're not reliant on the sun or the wind. Uh, they can run 24 hours a day and it becomes a stable baseline source of energy. Uh, there are some issues with renewables, solar doesn't work very well at night. Uh, we don't have great, uh, energy production from wind when it's not windy. Uh, one of the bridges that some of the power managers look at when they look at that situation is that, uh, they use batteries to store the energy and then use it at a later time. But, you know, there's an expense associated with that. It's a question of how that mix is going to be made. And I think the big concern now is when big, uh, uh, inline energy producers, like for example, the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, uh, when they go offline in a couple of years, um, how does the state move to replace that steady, um, solid supply of energy that they provided to the grid? Speaker 1: 04:34 And finally, what's your sense? Will this crisis situation keep happening? Is it the start of a whole new way of life? Well, we're all tuning into the energy situation, much more on getting ready to conserve at the drop of a hat. Speaker 2: 04:46 Well, the California independent system operator, when they gave their forecasts at the beginning of this year, back in January, they said energy was going to be tight. A major heat wave could be an issue. This major regional heat wave was an issue, and they looked ahead to next year as well. And they said that a power supply is going to be even tighter next year. Uh, so this could be a coping strategy. Uh, the only caveat I would add to that is that, uh, you know, the governor is asking to look into this situation. Uh, there are critics of the way the power system is run in California who have called for changing the way things are done. Uh, perhaps taking that decision making out of the independent system operators hands. So how those situations, uh, around this power supply issue, uh, shake out, we'll have, uh, some to do with what actually happens next year as well. Speaker 1: 05:38 Well, Eric, thanks so much for your reporting. My pleasure that's KPBS environment, reporter Eric Anderson. Speaker 2: 05:56 [inaudible].