California asks Biden administration to relax pollution rules to avoid rolling blackouts
Still anxious about the prospect of rolling blackouts, the manager of California’s power grid has asked the Biden administration for permission to run a string of gas-fired power plants at full capacity this fall even if it means exceeding air-pollution limits.
The request by the California Independent System Operator is the latest example of state officials’ willingness to compromise air-quality and climate-change goals in order to keep the lights on.
While the state has avoided rolling blackouts this year, there have been several close calls during a series of 110-degree heat waves earlier in the summer. This week the grid operator declared Flex Alerts — asking Californians for voluntary conservation — on back-to-back evenings.
In a letter this week to the federal Energy Department, the grid manager’s chief operating officer Mark Rothleder sought an emergency order allowing a small group of natural gas-fired plants to exceed the federal Clean Air Act’s emissions standards during crunch periods.
The plants include a 60-megawatt generator run by Roseville Electric, the city of Roseville’s utility; and a 60-megawatt plant in Yuba City run by a company called Greenleaf Energy.
In total, the affected plants have generating capacity of 200 megawatts — enough power for about 150,000 households.
The grid operator “appreciates the importance of the environmental permit limits that are at issue,” Rothleder wrote. “However, the CAISO is deeply concerned that losing power to homes and businesses in the areas affected by curtailments presents a greater risk to public health and safety than the temporary and limited exceedances of air emission permit limits that would occur under the requested emergency order.”
If granted, the emergency waiver would be in effect for 60 days.
Goal of green power grid by 2045
The state endured two nights of rolling blackouts during a monstrous heat wave in August 2020, the first time that had happened since the 2001 energy crisis. California’s grid is particularly vulnerable in early evening hours, when the sun goes down and solar power dissipates but it’s still hot.
The Legislature has declared that the power grid must be 100% renewable by 2045, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has positioned himself as a staunch green power advocate. But his administration has backed off at times in the name of electricity reliability.
Last year the State Water Resources Control Board postponed the shutdown of several aging power plants in Southern California in an effort to fortify the grid. Next month the board will consider postponing another power plant, in Redondo Beach, until 2023.
In July Newsom issued an emergency order that temporarily relaxes the state’s air-pollution standards to allow more gas-fired plants to operate when supplies are short. A few weeks later the California Energy Commission approved the operation of five small plants that are being purchased by the state Department of Water Resources.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 9:50 AM with the headline "California asks Biden administration to relax pollution rules to avoid rolling blackouts."