© Renewable Energy World

I pricked up my ears when I heard about a solar power plant in Daggett because I remember passing through this desert town near Barstow on the way to a trail running race, decades ago.  Daggett’s gas-fired power plant closed in 2015 and next to it, a solar-plus storage facility opened in October 2023.  This plant will produce 482 MW of solar power, and its batteries can store up to 280 MW of energy.  Governor Newsom was right when he said: “This is exactly the sort of innovation and big thinking that California needs, repurposing old fossil fuel infrastructure to build one of the biggest solar and battery projects in the country… with projects like this, we’ll achieve a 100% clean electric grid and drastically cut pollution to combat climate change—all while creating good-paying jobs.” (Darrell, Proctor “Major Solar-Plus-Storage Project Online at Retired Gas-Fired Power Plant.” Powermag.com, October 18, 2023.)  It’s important to also note that this solar power and storage plant created over 500 union jobs during project construction.

Much of this new clean power will be delivered to San Bernardino county and non-profit Community Choice Energy organizations such as Clean Power Alliance (Los Angeles & Ventura counties), East Bay Community Energy (Oakland), and others.  Sadly, none of this clean energy is destined for Orange County.