The California Assembly passed legislation on Wednesday by a 58:0 vote to increase efficiency of the state’s electric grid and speed up the deployment of renewable energy resources in California.
SB 1006 will require utilities to study the feasibility of grid enhancing technologies (GETs) and advanced conductors and then file a report with the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). GETs are easily-installed hardware and software tools that can double the amount of renewable energy that can be integrated into the grid from existing power lines. Advanced conductors replace older, inefficient power lines with lines made of improved conductive material that increase their capacity, efficiency and strength. State Sen. Steve Padilla authored SB 1006 and Environment California sponsored it.
“Too often the power lines that make up our aging electric grid get blocked and congested, which means new renewable energy can’t get where it needs to go,” said Steven King, Environment California’s clean energy advocate. “SB 1006 will help us deploy new sensors and technologies to unlock grid capacity for much more renewable energy. Summer heat waves and devastating wildfires fueled by climate change aren’t slowing down, so we must do all we can to supercharge our path to 100% clean energy.”
“We cannot rely on the grid of our grandparents to power our grandchildren’s future,” said state Sen. Steve Padilla. “California’s electric grid must keep up with our rising energy demand and the increasing impacts of climate change. Installing cutting edge technologies such as GETs and advanced conductors will go a long way toward boosting our grid’s capacity while unleashing more renewable energy, improving grid reliability and reducing pressure on rising electric rates by getting the most out of our existing electric infrastructure.”
If the state Senate passes SB 1006 in a concurrence vote this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill into law by the end of September.
News item from Environment California
“Advanced conductors replace older, inefficient power lines with lines made of improved conductive material that increase their capacity, efficiency and strength. State Sen. Steve Padilla authored SB 1006 and Environment California sponsored it.”
Typical political mandate without a plan for proper execution and proper project cost management that will be passed along to the residential bundled energy costs per kWh and in Utility PG&E sphere of influence it is looking like on average $0.25/kWh to a TOU high of around $0.53/kWh. Recabling is NOT the only serious issue in California, transmission power infrastructure needs a LOT of attention. Recabling is the “lowest hanging fruit” and yet will suffer from constricted local and regional interconnect problems IntraState and InterState. As of right now the individual switching stations and transformers on poles throughout California (need) to be replaced by the more efficient amorphous sometimes called (Metglass) derived distribution transformers saving from 1% to 1.5% on energy losses for (every) transformer replaced with a metglass transformer. Legislation unfunded mandates will fail dismally, but the Legislature will claim, “we tried”. What has been “fleshed out here” is retail energy rates on average $0.35/kWh to a TOU high of around $0.75/kWh to $1/kWh. Yeah Padilla should be held accountable for residential energy extortion that would allow a monthly electric bill on average for a 2,000 square foot home to cost $1,200 to $1,800 a month. One can almost guarantee the Legislature will vote themselves a raise to pay their electric bills. The T&D infrastructure in California has been hurting for decades, I’m thinking the Camp Fire drove that home to those in the utility industry that have been in denial for decades of dividends over O&M.