Here in Alaska, we're no strangers to power outages. The reasons for this are obvious and, to a degree, unavoidable. All of our power lines, outside the Anchorage area at least, are above-ground on poles; those lines are extended to bring electricity to far-flung places, and our weather, especially the winters, can be hard on those lines. We lose power two or three times a year, most years, and it can stay off from a few minutes to a few days.
But this is rural Alaska. We expect that, we accept that, and we are prepared for that.
California, on the other hand, well, if the once-Golden State has anything, one would think it should have reliable electricity. Instead, California is and has been the top state for blackouts, and that's because of years of Democrat dominance in the state, as well as ignoring the decline of the state's electrical infrastructure. An editorial over at one of my favorite sites, Issues & Insights, has some details.
Federal data show that no state had as many power outages across more than two decades as California. The nearly 500 grid breakdowns correlate with increases in renewable energy. Maybe there’s been no causation, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future, because the intermittency of renewables is a mismatch with the power grid.
Using U.S. Department of Energy reports, Texas Electricity Ratings found that California had 493 power outages from 2003 through 2023. Texas, which is No. 2 to California’s No. 1 in total renewable energy consumption, was close behind with 468.
California’s recent blackout history began with five in 2003. The number doubled in 2004 and continued to rise, reaching 20 in 2010, 25 in 2015, 56 in 2020 and a peak of 69 in 2022.
Totals fell in some years from the year before, but the overall trend is sharply upward.
Note that Texas is running a close second on this contest, so this isn't purely a blue-state thing. In the case of Texas, the problem is more of an infrastructure problem, as we saw in the winter of 2021, when there were problems with delivery and ability to meet demand. California, though, shows some clear trends with regard to weather patterns, and the grid's ability to deal with intermittent sources from things like wind and solar power. In short: The current grid isn't designed for dealing with intermittent, low-energy sources, and California is shutting down all of the traditional fossil-fuel and nuclear sources.
Here's the onion:
Texas Electricity Ratings says California’s major grid disturbances coincide “with a clear seasonal rhythm tied to storm and heat-wave patterns.” Some outages are caused by physical attacks and vandalism, and in some instances cyber events. But California still had the most blackouts attributed to equipment/system failure (125) and fuel supply emergencies (35), and its outages don’t track cleanly with the national figures, which have peaked and valleyed but were roughly the same in 2023 as they were in 2003.
What does move along a line consistent with grid failures is the growth in California renewables. Solar energy surged from near zero in 2003 to more than 19% of in-state generation and 17% of the state’s total power mix in 2023. Wind power grew from a blip in 2003 to 6.5% of in-state generation and 11% of the total power mix in 2023.
Nothing more than coincidence? Maybe. But we know that the power grid and renewables are an imperfect match.
That last sentence may be something of an understatement.
Read More: Green Energy Mandates Trigger First New York Rolling Blackouts
Coal Still Dominates Wind and Solar, and Will for the Foreseeable Future
Note the causes of California's blackouts. Physical attacks and vandalism are a problem, and that seems tied to the general increase in crime and hooliganism we've been seeing in too many of the nation's urban areas in the last few years. This is a problem in and of itself, and it won't be dealt with by building more windmills or putting up more solar panels. But the other problem is that the number of blackouts seems to correspond with California's increasing reliance on "green" energy. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats seem determined to sacrifice reliable electricity on the altar of anthropogenic climate change, and these blackouts are, at least in part, due to this.
Here's the thing: The electrical grid is limited in the variations it can accept. The current grid can only operate effectively within tight limits, and intermittent sources like wind and solar are not compatible with those limits. Coal, oil, gas, and, most of all, nuclear power are not only much higher-density, but are also constant.
But California Democrats are either blissfully ignorant of this, or just plain don't care. And so a household in the San Fernando Valley suburbs may now have less reliable electricity than someone living out in the woods in Alaska. There's an obvious answer for California's electricity woes, and that is nuclear power. Note that California has, in a rare display of temporary sanity, approved the continuation of California's last nuclear power plant, the Diablo Canyon facility, to run until 2030. That's only four more years, but it may well be four years in which California voters can turn things around, starting with the 2026 governor's contest.
In elections, the saying is, "it's the economy, stupid." But at the heart of the economy is energy: Affordable, and most of all, reliable energy. That's what California needs; not more "green" boondoggles, not more windmills, not more solar farms.
Steve Hilton, are you listening?
