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State energy policy comes home to roost 

Credit:  Letters to the Editor | The Mercury News | August 21, 2020 | www.mercurynews.com ~~

Rolling blackouts took place when the sun went down along with 10 gigawatts of solar power (“Power outages in state loom,” Aug. 18). Our electrical system can’t go negative. It requires instant backup for lost power or the grid will become unstable and risk collapse. The only sources that can supply instant backup are existing fossil fuel plants already running for that purpose. Battery-powered backup is a distant hope of limited scope.

California didn’t have sufficient fossil fuel backup to cover the loss of solar power. Immediate power from outside the state was unavailable. California was on its own.

Simply defined, it is California policy to subsidize the growth of solar and wind power and reduce (eventually shut down) fossil fuel production to force the transition. The state’s success at closing down fossil fuel power sources has come home to roost. Much like cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

Donald Eagling
Retired scientist, Lawerence Berkeley Laboratory
Danville

Source:  Letters to the Editor | The Mercury News | August 21, 2020 | www.mercurynews.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

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