California has taken nuclear power plants offline while increasing mandates for wind and solar, resulting in statewide power shortages and power outages. Nuclear power is clean and reliable; wind and solar power, while “clean,” are unreliable, significantly more expensive, and emit the dreaded greenhouse gases (but don’t tell anyone that part).
There have been power outages since the 2006 California Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32, was passed by the Legislature and signed into law. The California Public Utilities Commission has rejected previous attempts, but following the deadly 2018 fires, allowed power shutoffs under the guise of protecting public safety.
And now, one of the largest solar projects and bird killers is quietly shutting down. The $2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Project in the Mohave Desert, which received $1.6 billion dollars in federal loan guarantees from the Obama administration, is shutting down. Larger than the Obama Solyndra solar scandal, the Ivanpah project is another California boondoggle that harmed the environment more than it provided much needed electricity to the state’s 40 million residents.
And Ivanpah incinerates more than 6,000 birds a year.
Besides AB 32, in 2011, California passed the Renewables Portfolio Standard setting the mandate at 33 percent renewable energy by 2020. When it became clear that California was nearly there, in 2015, the Legislature moved the bar again and passed SB 350 the “Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015.” SB 350 requires the state to procure 50 percent of electricity from renewable energy and double energy efficiency savings by 2030. In 2018, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 100, setting a 100 percent clean electricity goal for the state, and issued an executive order establishing a new target to achieve carbon neutrality – both by 2045. These mandates leave utility companies no wiggle room.
The Legislature continues to move the bar, justifying more failing clean energy projects.
