by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
California has the most expensive and least reliable electricity
California has taken nuclear power plants offline while increasing mandates for wind and solar, resulting in statewide power shortages and power outages. Nuclear power is clean and reliable; wind and solar power, while “clean,” are unreliable, significantly more expensive, and emit the dreaded greenhouse gases (but don’t tell anyone that part).
There have been power outages since the 2006 California Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32, was passed by the Legislature and signed into law. The California Public Utilities Commission has rejected previous attempts, but following the deadly 2018 fires, allowed power shutoffs under the guise of protecting public safety.
And now, one of the largest solar projects and bird killers is quietly shutting down. The $2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Project in the Mohave Desert, which received $1.6 billion dollars in federal loan guarantees from the Obama administration, is shutting down. Larger than the Obama Solyndra solar scandal, the Ivanpah project is another California boondoggle that harmed the environment more than it provided much needed electricity to the state’s 40 million residents.
And Ivanpah incinerates more than 6,000 birds a year.
