Analysis: Math just doesn't add up for CA renewable power supply and demand

Cities like SJ rely too much on expensive imported energy to keep the lights on—but don't worry, pols emphasize, because it's all “clean” (or is it?). Though you can soon expect five new wind farms coming to a California shore near you, City Journal's Edward Ring cautions that green energy is immensely cost-ineffective, and there isn't enough available to meet CA's needs.

California has a culture of innovation that goes back nearly two centuries. It is understandable that it would be inspired to set an example for the world. But the fatal flaw in California’s renewable-energy strategy is that other nations aren’t looking to the Golden State for leadership in this area. For everyone on earth to consume half as much energy per capita as Americans do, global energy production needs to double. Because energy is the foundation of prosperity, this needs to happen fast, and in an affordable manner.

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Californians, then, must develop new energy infrastructure that is practical and cost-effective. Instead of decommissioning its natural gas power plants, the state could upgrade them to the most advanced technologies available. Current combined-cycle designs harvest waste heat from the natural-gas-fired turbine to produce steam to drive a second turbine; new designs replace steam with helium, greatly improving efficiency. California could also opt to be at the forefront of both small modular and large next-generation nuclear reactor development, creating plants that generate emissions-free gigawatts of electricity. And on transportation, the California legislature could make a priority of upgrading the state’s roads to accommodate high-speed, self-driving vehicles—rather than banning the sale of everything but all-electric vehicles by 2035, reducing choice while foreclosing the possibility of future innovation.

Instead, Newsom is prioritizing offshore wind farms at a stupefying financial and environmental cost. California, and America, can indeed set an example to the world, but only if that example is one the world is willing to follow. On energy infrastructure—that boring but nonnegotiable prerequisite for any prosperous civilization—California has yet to live up to its illustrious legacy or its undeniable potential.

This article originally appeared in City Journal. Read the whole thing here.

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