Letter from Sacramento: It’s Never Been More Important to Invest in Clean Energy

In early September, California experienced one of the worst heat waves in the state's history. Here in Sacramento, temperatures reached an all-time high of 116 degrees, the hottest in nearly a century. Californians across the state received emergency warnings to reduce their electricity usage to avoid rolling blackouts which could’ve left whole communities without power. 

This catastrophic heat wave follows a summer of historic drought and wildfires across the state. These phenomena will become even more common as California continues to experience the effects of runaway climate change. As temperatures increase, air conditioning will be in higher demand over the coming years. In addition, California is taking key steps to electrify our buildings, homes, and vehicles to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels. This will also lead to increases in  electricity demand over the next few years.

To meet this demand, California needs to invest in a reliable, affordable, and clean electricity grid that can keep the lights no matter what the climate crisis throws at it. As such, our leaders and policymakers cannot backslide on renewable energy commitments and invest more and more state dollars in unreliable and environmentally-harmful resources such as methane gas. If they do, we risk greater exposure to the life-threatening effects of the climate crisis. 

In order to avoid this looming disaster, the state must stop throwing lifelines to gas plants and diesel generators and instead double down on clean energy and commonsense, climate-friendly steps towards grid resiliency.

For years, climate activists and clean energy advocates have warned against the electricity crisis California is currently facing, urging regulators to make big investments in energy efficiency, demand response, and especially renewable energy. We’ve known for years that as fossil fuels are inevitably phased out, we need to ramp up clean energy resources to fill that gap. 

Unfortunately, that warning, while met with the right words from some policymakers, was met  more often with inaction or half-measures. Simply put: California failed to plan. Deployment of clean energy resources was not adequately procured, permitted, or put online quickly enough to meet the moment we're at today. 

Energy efficiency measures have slowed in recent years, and demand response programs were underdeveloped or not publicized. For example, during the September heat wave, state regulators and utilities repeatedly urged Californians to voluntarily conserve energy, rather than highlighting programs specifically designed to pay residential customers to decrease their electricity demand during grid emergencies. Worst still, the California government tossed fossil fuel interests multiple lifelines in September, allowing gas plants and diesel generators to disregard the air and water restrictions in their permits during hours of grid stress and removing the very limited protections for disadvantaged communities from these dirty resources.

And that’s frustrating considering that we know clean energy is reliable. We know solar and wind are more cost-effective than fossil fuels. We know better and upgraded transmission capacity can make a grid more reliable. More transmission capacity for renewables can increase supply, decrease electricity bills, and create jobs in the process. Demand response programs and rates that encourage electricity use when it’s clean and discourage when it’s fueled by gas can also help address grid emergencies during heat waves.

We just need our policymakers to act. 

The state legislature can tackle this by passing a state budget that invests heavily in zero emission resiliency solutions such as battery storage and responsibly planned pump storage. At one point during the most recent heat wave, California’s batteries provided more than 3,000 megawatts of power, exceeding the capacity of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The legislature could also do more to expand rooftop and community solar, energy efficiency, and storage  programs into disadvantaged communities. These communities are undoubtedly hit the hardest during the heat waves, and targeted support for these customers can pay dividends in terms of avoiding the need for new peaking power plants. 

The governor could do more as well. Newsom should promote demand response programs at the Public Utilities Commission which can financially compensate Californians for reducing their electricity use at times when there is significant strain on the grid. Moreover, he should direct his agencies to further incentivize distributed energy resources, residential battery storage, and vehicle-to-grid innovations that will turn our electric cars into resiliency measures and put electricity back into the grid when necessary. And most importantly, he can stop sending lifelines and licenses to the dirtiest resources on the grid. We should never again see an emergency proclamation that allows the dirtiest polluters to pollute more in the name of reliability. 

Investing in and uplifting a diverse portfolio of clean energy resources was absolutely necessary when California first committed to 100% clean energy back in 2018 with SB 100, and it’s even more necessary today.  All Californians have the need to do so, but our leaders and policymakers must have the will to do so. That’s where you come in. 

Ensure that you do your part by voting for environmental champions this November and sending them to Sacramento with a mandate to do the hard work necessary to protect our planet, and simultaneously, keep the lights on. 

You can also get involved locally by advocating that your utility provider - whether public or private - do their part to curb the worst impacts of the climate crisis and stop investing in new fossil fuel generation. 

Thanks for taking action.

Sincerely,