Governor Newsom announces signing of $15 billion climate change, wildfire funding packages in Sequoia National Park on 9/23/21. (Photo: gov.ca.gov)
Gov. Newsom Addressed the People Wednesday on ‘Extreme Heat’ and Wobbly Electricity Grid
The Gov. will offer conservation tips while blaming fossil fuels rather than his climate change policies
By Katy Grimes, August 31, 2022 8:18 am
UPDATE BELOW: Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday morning he will discuss the heat wave expected to hit California and the entire West Coast starting today and lasting through Labor Day weekend until next Wednesday.
Is this because a heat wave is unusual or because our state electricity grid is precarious?
As a California native, summer heat waves are normal. Our weak electricity grid is not normal.
Expect to hear the governor talk about “climate change,” “extreme weather,” “extreme heat,” bad “fossil fuels,” bad “gas-powered cars,” and how Californians need to conserve electricity.
He will offer tips on how we can conserve: turn your air conditioner up to 80 degrees or turn it off and use a fan, don’t use your heavy home appliances, stay hydrated, close the curtains and sit in the darkness until told otherwise.
Newsom’s press statement says, “The Governor will discuss ways Californians can stay safe from extreme heat, the strain the extreme weather will place on the grid, and state actions to respond to the immediate emergency and accelerate the state’s transition away from fossil fuels that worsen extreme heat.”
We’ve been down this road before with power shortages and rolling blackouts – almost entirely since the California Legislature and the last three governors started imposing absurd “climate change” laws on the state, weakening the electricity grid and putting all Californians in jeopardy.
I’ve been covering climate change legislation in the California Legislature for many years. I wrote this 10 years ago in February 2012 warning of impending energy crashes:
“With California’s renewable energy mandates, cap and trade requirements, and implementation of AB 32, it is becoming increasingly clear that California is at a precarious energy crossroads, and one that lawmakers don’t yet appear willing to address.
They are still busy patting themselves on the back for passage of the Renewable Portfolio Standard. But lawmakers will soon be forced to address the upcoming lawmaker-made energy crisis because their renewable energy mandates won’t be able to power the state.
An new study released by the California Independent System Operator, CalISO, warns that as California tries to meet the stringent requirements of the Renewable Portfolio Standard of 33 percent renewable energy production, ‘so does the need for flexible capacity resources.’”
Ironically, the Renewable Portfolio Standard and climate change pushers steadfastly have refused to acknowledge that hydroelectric power substantially contributes to the 33 percent renewable goal, as it does in Québec – California’s favorite clean energy partner. Unlike solar and wind power, hydroelectric power is affordable, renewable and abundant. And Québec is Canada’s leading producer of hydroelectricity, with one of the world’s largest hydroelectric facilities. Hydroelectricity accounts for almost 97% of all the electricity used in Québec.
I noted in 2012 that the Legislature killed part of a bill that would have added all hydroelectric power to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard. Former Sen. Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga), authored SB 1247, a bill that would have added large hydroelectric power to the list of California’s eligible renewable energy resources, and broaden the definition of “eligible renewable energy resources.”
This proved that the RPS was just another mandate supporting the unreliable solar and wind agenda.
Even in 2012 there were grave concerns about the removal of the Klamath Dam, which provides hydroelectric power and serves 70,000 mostly rural households, annually.
“Contrast the Klamath Dam with the revered Hetch Hetchy dam, which provides water for San Francisco. In 1906, after the big San Francisco earthquake, San Francisco applied to the United States Department of the Interior to gain water rights to Hetch Hetchy. It’s been the darling dam of the state ever since, and the only one environmentalists will tolerate,” I wrote.
The Klamath Dam provides hydroelectric power to an entire region of the state, as well as 70,000 households. The High-Speed Rail, which Gov. Newsom just authorized to continue with two legs of the proposed system, will drain enough electricity from an already tapped electricity grid, equal to 430,000 households. “Where will the additional power come from? Solar rooftops? Wind farms? Where will the electric cars plug in?” I asked in 2012.
Solar, wind, algae, ethanol, biofuels and other renewable energy sources are intermittent, unreliable, and not always environmentally-friendly.
“It is becoming increasingly apparent that California cannot keep up with the renewable energy mandates,” I observed in 2012.
And here California is 10 years later still flailing about with an unreliable, intermittent, precarious electricity grid, with a governor blaming climate change, cars and fossil fuels.
UPDATE, 4:40PM: Following the press conference, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) issued a statement as poignant as any:
The Governor’s proclamation says our power supply is 3,000 megawatts short this weekend. This means up to 2.25 million homes could face power outages over the Labor Day holiday.
PROCLAMATION SAYS:
WHEREAS on August 31, 2022, the CAISO advised that it is forecasting supply deficiencies of over 3,000 megawatts during evening hours from September 4, 2022, through September 6, 2022; advised that further emergency alerts may follow; and advised that emergency interventions would allow energy customers to make contingency plans ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend;
Full Proclamation: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/8.31.22-Heat-Proclamation.pdf?emrc=78e3fc
DO THE MATH:
According to CAISO, “one megawatt equals one million watts or 1,000 kilowatts, roughly enough electricity for the instantaneous demand of 750 homes at once.”
Megawatt Explanation: http://www.caiso.com/about/Pages/OurBusiness/Understanding-electricity.aspx
PATTERSON UPDATED STATEMENT:
“What Governor Newsom told the people of California today and the actual realities that will play out this weekend are so far apart that we have to ask why he is failing to share the truth with us all?”
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We have a fragile electricity grid because of the bullshit, costly so-called “green” agenda leftist nutjobs created in California with expensive windmills and solar fields that often harm wildlife and generate costly, unreliable electricity for Californians.
We literally kicked out Gray Davis over this 20 years ago. 20. Same democratic-run state legislature keeps kicking the can down the road. They just cannot solve any problems…you cannot conserve yourself into safety. And to think King Gavin wants to be 100% electric…this state is a mess, decades-long in the making.
I too am a native Californian and yes heat waves are normal. But Governor Climate Change and the Left will tell us that we have never had heat waves, droughts, floods, storms, and hurricanes before. What we have never had before is an unreliable electric grid that was brought on upon us by Dems, GCC, and some RINOS like Arnold who have shoved this “green renewable energy” down our throats. I can fondly remember when we had heat waves we did not have to worry about losing our electricity. Tucker Carlson had an excellent segment yesterday about California’s energy.
Yep – Tucker was ON FIRE and ON POINT about California’s complete and utter MIS-MANAGEMENT of ALL of our infrastructure issues: Energy, Water, Fuel, Food… but that’s the World Economic Forum’s playbook for our “Young Global Leader” assclown-in-chief “Governor”, Gavin Newsom….
We’ve had heat waves exactly like this LONG before all this BS about “climate change” was the flavor of the day for the Communist Democrats who want to regulate you back to the covered wagon days (or kill or enslave you in a FEMA camp, whichever is easier).
All this hot air is probably derived from Newsom’s exhalations, which pollute the air more than most other sources in California, except the raging wildfires that are caused by his policies and FOREST/WILDLAND MIS-management…
He is an UTTER FAILURE ….
I wonder what his thermostat is set at? Probably 65 degrees. No doubt his lawn is a lush green too.
Reality: War On the Weather by DARPA, NASA, HAARP.
Oh, this is excellent! Good thing Katy Grimes has her archives from 2012 at her fingertips to refresh our memory and to show just how predictable our current screaming nightmare is and who is responsible. A “lawmaker-made energy crisis” —— no kidding, and what could be more crystal clear than that as we sit here sweating today? We now have our foolish legislators dead-to-rights as the villains, and Gov Gav, too, because these policies are HIS policies, and how loudly and proudly he proclaims them, STILL, no matter the evidence, no matter the consequences, and absurdly pushes an ALL-ELECTRIC CA and EVs to boot!
Keeping all of this in mind as he continues his blathering blather and his lectures about how we can swelter and sweat and needlessly interrupt our lives —- again —- while doing it. And don’t forget that many people died because their malevolent govts pursued these stupid, useless, harmful and unaffordable GREEN policies. What does Gavin care as long as he can be a KING?
Managed decline of America
wobbly. great minimization of the folly of your all electric goal. clown
Whatever you do, do not charge your government mandated electric car! Gee I guess no one saw this coming?
CW: You gotta love this headline: “California goes haywire! Electric car owner are told NOT to charge their vehicles because of heatwave — just days after announcing 2035 ban on gas cars”
And it’s from the Daily Mail, yet. Often good for news and photos, but not exactly a bastion of right-wing political thought. 🙂
I wonder if greens are starting to get a clue. Probably not, green is a mental illness.
The EV owners in my town are not exactly rock-ribbed Republicans and they virtue-signal their $$Teslas$$ (that they are forbidden to charge at the moment) in between running to the curb to put their last-minute disgusting bagged apple-peelings and eggshells and coffee grounds in the mulch bin on pickup day, so it will be interesting to see what happens from this. I know better than to have high hopes about this kind of thing, but spending $66K on a car you can’t drive should have SOME effect.
Not every EV owner is a died in the wool green loon. A lot of people (like my neighbor) simply believed all the lies. He did spend a fortune on solar which he now says was not worth it.
Said it before and will say it again here : California’s “mandates” and “executive orders” about “renewables” is akin to being ordered to jump out of an airplane at 20,000 feet with a partially sewn parachute that you have to finish sewing before you can deploy it…. the ending ain’t gonna be pretty….
And yet the CAGOP stands pat and says and DOES NOTHING to challenge this assclown and his Democrat minions…
What’s up with that Jessica Millan Patterson??? All you want is money donated – you DO NOTHING to help California residents who are chafing under the tyrannical edicts of this insane clown posse of degenerate Democrats….
Spot on CD9! It’s time for a new third party and a conservative one at that with a SPINE!
YOUR choices, Gov, YOUR choices, not ours have caused the problems, and continued the problems.
How completely backwards-thinking does a person have to be to shutdown reliable electricity production and continue telling people to “conserve” energy? In the 21st century!
You do know that fear-porn about “running out of oil in the ground” has been debunked, right?
It’s 102° at my house right now (down from 105°). The coast is 76°.
SHUT DOWN THE POWER ALONG THE COAST SO I CAN RUN MY DAMN FANS AND MY WINDOW A/C!
Given Asm Jim Patterson’s do-the-math update in light of Newsom and Co’s miserable failures, this could end up being a very memorable and educational Labor Day weekend for CA residents. And for Newsom.
Wow so many great and thoughtful comments here!
Let’s mandate electrical cars to have them sit in the driveway, ya just cannot make this stuff up! Liberalism really is a mental disorder!
Here is an idea on how you can charge your Tesla/EV, buy a gas powered generator and plug it in????
This is all a sad joke and so is our pathetic governor!
HA! Cali Girl, I wouldn’t be surprised if some EV owners actually do that.
No, they would be like our wealthy neighbors next door (who both hold high-paid positions at “the world’s leading biotechnology company” ( you know, the one that’s been in a legal pissing contest with J&J since Day 1)) who recently dropped almost $100,000 to install solar panels on their roof and a PowerWall in their garage to charge their $70,000 Tesla…
Then, to cap off their expensive virtue-signaling, they went out and ripped out their lawn to replace it with yards of the cheapest looking fake grass on the market, saving the water, but increasing the heat island effect while simultaneously depriving the ecosystem of the photosynthesis that converts Co2 to oxygen…
And these are supposedly “smart people”…
Then when a fire is sparked you cannot escape because your electric car won’t start but Gavin, Nancy and Diane are all safe, cool and their landscapers continue to manicure their lush green lawns, you peasants.
First time I have read a Katy Grimes article. It was spot on and summed up my frustration perfectly with communist newsom and those green idiots in office. Well done Katy, I will be reading more of your reporting in the future for sure!