California is often looked at as the progressive model on how to run the country, and yet it consistently comes up short in providing for its own citizens. The latest failure from the Golden State? Rolling energy blackouts.
California’s energy grid has been strained by a heat wave. The state is unable to import energy from its neighbors, who need it for their own residents, which accounts for a quarter of California’s power. Plans were made to prepare for the heat wave, but the weather was unkind, providing less sunlight and wind than expected. The result is rolling blackouts that leave residents without power for things such as air conditioning.
The state has been in a hurry to run away from more efficient forms of energy, with little regard for situations like this. Natural gas accounts for over 46% of energy produced in California, but the state plans to phase it out completely by 2045. California has also decided to shun nuclear energy, which produces no carbon emissions. In fact, when California shut down the San Onofre nuclear plant in 2013, carbon emissions skyrocketed.
California’s final nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon, will be shuttered by 2025, despite the fact that it accounts for nearly 10% of in-state energy generation alone. California is writing out nuclear and natural gas with no plan for backing up its unreliable green energy or reducing reliance on neighboring states.
What’s worse is that the state’s energy prices are also rising. Electricity prices in California rose almost 7 times more in California than they did in the rest of the country between 2011 and 2018. California residents are paying more to power their homes and businesses and are being rewarded with having their energy shut off in the middle of a heat wave to preserve the state’s power grid.
California’s desire to make itself a progressive benchmark on energy policy has left Californians worse off, on top of the added suffering and economic woes brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. California is a model of how not to reduce carbon emissions, running scared of nuclear energy and leaving residents stranded in the heat with no backup plans.
