California Electric Grid at Risk of Collapse According to Experts
Image courtesy of Nenad Stojkovic under Attribution 2.0 Generic License, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.
It’s no secret that the California electric grid has been under a ton of pressure the last few years. Between massive forest fires, extreme heat, and even megadroughts, California’s electric utilities are facing many challenges. Now, as if those events aren’t bad enough, various industry experts are predicting a complete and total grid failure throughout the state in the years to come. Let’s take a peek into what they’re saying.
Why the California Electric Grid Could be in Trouble
The environmental factors I described above are only part of the picture. The other piece relates to California’s aggressive foray into clean energy. State officials are pushing to move away from fossil fuels and toward power sources such as wind and solar. The directive is to reduce greenhouse gases and oil usage in the state, by 85% and 94% respectively, within 20 years.
Concurrently, there is a major push toward electric vehicles (EVs), which presents an entirely different set of challenges. In fact, all new vehicle sales in California are required to be electric by 2035. The impact this and similar directives will have on demand is mind-blowing.
The problem is that these objectives are not realistic. The amount of clean energy sources that would need to be developed in a short period of time is nothing short of staggering, and such a colossal change can only introduce instability into the grid. It would also require the development of new transmission line infrastructure to connect renewable projects. The home heating and cooling and transportation sectors would need to undergo wholesale changes as well.
Even the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warned in Dec. 2022 that California is looking at a high risk of energy or capacity shortfall in the coming years, due to power plant retirements and increased demand.
In the final analysis, I don’t know if “collapse” is the correct term, but I do believe that the California electric grid will face massive challenges going forward. Unfortunately, customers will likely feel the pinch more than anyone else in the form of more frequent outages and higher rates.
