Opinion: California hasn't seen end of high electricity prices [Opinion]
Re “Sempra, state should cover price spikes” : Readers are decrying rising electricity rates. Some relief might be achieved if the state picks up the charges for non-supply costs, but this will be a drop in the bucket compared with the costs arising from the huge investments needed to move to a lower-carbon grid as outlined in “” , costs that will push electricity rates to a dollar per kilowatt hour by 2040, a revelation that provoked remarkably little comment.
As part of this program, the California Independent System Operator forecasts additions of 50 gigawatts of solar capacity and 37 gigawatts of battery storage. Sadly, these additions will do little to reduce carbon emissions and affect climate change in the foreseeable future because most of the energy to build these batteries and panels will come from coal-fired power plants in China.The recent complaints about the rising cost of energy in San Diego cannot be taken seriously, simply because the 8% increase cited will be dwarfed by what we can expect due to Sacramento’s “green” energy sourcing requirements.
As for gasoline at the pump, expect $10 a gallon by 2025, and considerably more by 2030, along with recurrent scarcity if the government continues with its negative attitude toward oil and gas exploration and development. And if you assume you will avoid the gas hikes by going battery powered electric, re-read the second sentence above. All of this is inevitable assuming the U.S.
All of this is not to say global warming does not present a serious risk, which it does, but one cannot undo 100 years of energy source dependence in a decade by relying on substitutes that are intrinsically unreliable and contain only a fraction of the energy density of fossil fuels. So, if you live on a budget, hunker down, because it is going to get a whole lot worse.
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