Ca Energy’s future must include the Western States partnership

By Michael Vara, special for Calmatters

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Clean. Reliable. Accessible. These are the challenging but achievable electrical network in California.

In order to get an affordable and reliability to obtain the clean energy needed to manage a country so populated and prosperous as California, we must build. We need to build all renewable energy sources that we can. We need to build unprecedented amounts of new solar and batteries in large power plants across California. And we need to import significant amounts of renewable energy from other countries to fill the gaps.

We need all three. And the third means an updated and deeper cooperation with our energy partners throughout the West.

State Seni. Josh Beckersuggestion, Senate was 540, It is a careful way to achieve this partnership. The SB 540 continues the march, started by several Western Energy employees who suggested a new self -controlled entity Offering an expansive set of functions in the wholesale electricity market in the largest possible imprint. The preparation of a market that covers the North American West is a major for providing a road map for solar and wind projects to be built, helping to fill the gaps left by our transformative construction of clean energy in California.

The SB 540 is also crucial to allow California’s participation in this market and guarantees that our country has a leadership role, as other competitive concepts on the market are less likely to share their commitment to our clean energy goals.

During a heat wave in 2020, the California network operator was forced to institute rotating interruptionsA necessary step to protect the network in California and the neighboring states. Governor Gavin Newsom manages a careful analysis of many agencies after action, identifies reasons and made changes to market design. The state began to accelerate battery deployment to help stabilize the network.

When the next The heat wave came in 2022.These changes have brought positive results. But it was Still close conversationS During extreme heat last year the grid remained stable as The solutions had progressed even moreS

We cannot afford to rest on this success.

Thermal waves and related emergencies emphasize the challenges of decarbonization of a grid as large as California against the background of constant climate change. Unfortunately, we must improve our efforts, as climate change will deteriorate, even when we become more dependent on renewable energy resources that do not produce energy at any time.

The SB 540 will allow us to rely on our neighbors in a pinch and allow them to rely on us as well. This bill is a key next step.

This is nothing new. From the Pat Brown era, California has always cooperated in providing its electricity. The transformation we are leading-with our progress to the way to cleaning electricity, commitment to electric vehicles and a wider goal to demonstrate how prosperous, creating the opportunity for a clean energy economy-requires a renewed focus on the interstate institutions and structures that have shaped our modern energy reality. They are taken for granted.

As the western interstate energy council brings together stakeholders in California and other states to continue the path to the West, the clean, reliable, affordable energy is closer to reality. Consumers, utilities and regulators must continue to develop a shared market concept that creates profits for everyone.

The SB 540 guarantees that California can continue to benefit from these victories and increase the cooperation and efficiency of the West. History – both the early path to national economic leadership and the last close calls with our network – the lawyer continued to work to create the management needed to build and hold a 100% clean network, which is California star of California.

My research with economists, engineers and policy analysts show that clear, justly applied market rules are crucial for the achievement of California’s energy and climatic goals. The SB 540 is the next major step to a course to practical solutions to this challenge.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.