Scrolling through my newsfeed this morning, I came across this analysis of California’s transmission problems and recent efforts to solve them at Canary Media. Basically, California’s transmission stagnation is unexceptional, as it’s the unfortunate norm in America. However, California has a much more ambitious renewable agenda and higher rates of EV adoption than most places. For those two reasons, the state is on a much tighter schedule than other parts of the country when it comes to transmission development.
According to the article, the problem has sparked a bi-partisian legislative response:
“The climate and economic harms posed by California’s sluggish grid buildout have united an unusually broad coalition. Among SB 410’s supporters are dozens of environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund. Labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Coalition of California Utility Employees, are also on board, as are business groups including the California Chamber of Commerce and California Building Industry Association.
SB 410 gives the California Public Utilities Commission until September 2024to set target timelines for utilities to connect and upgrade customers to the grid. It also orders the CPUC to include state and local government air quality, transportation and building electrification plans and workforce development needs in those plans — and to control the costs of those grid expansions even as it sets deadlines and penalties for utilities that fail to build fast enough.”
SB 410 is encouraging. However, as the article points out, rate cases in California are only every 3 years. The data for upcoming cases is from 2019, when we had less of an idea of what EV adoption would look like. What’s more, and what this article doesn’t mention, is that transmission projects are often held up by NIMBYSTS and confused environmentalists. This phenomenon has already bugged solar progress in the state in recent years.