Can clean energy replace a shuttered nuke plant in California?

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/news/can-clean-energy-replace-a-shuttered-nuke-plant-in-california/

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Last year’s decision to close the San Onofre nuclear power plant in Southern California has created a challenge for utilities and utility regulators: How best to replace the facility’s 2,200 megawatts of generating capacity?

The region’s utility is pushing for more fossil fuel power. Environmentalists want a cleaner solution — and the state’s thriving cleantech sector says it could provide just that.

The California Public Utilities Commission is due next month to consider allowing construction of a natural gas–fired plant near the Mexican border. The commission had rejected the plant a year ago, but it’s being reconsidered as part of a mixture of renewable and fossil fuel projects that could help meet the state’s electricity needs in the wake of the San Onofre closure.

Environmentalists and neighbors of proposed new gas plants have been pleading with commissioners for months to reject such proposals. They want more solar, wind, and efficiency to help fill the gap left by lost nuclear power. A clear majority of Southern Californians agree, according to a poll conducted last year.

[shenmue]

1. Here's hoping

I'd like to see all nuclear power replaced by safe, renewable energy soon.

[kristopher]

2. California regulator fires parting shot at utilities

California regulator fires parting shot at utilities
By Davide Savenije Jan. 22, 2014


Dive Brief:
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Commissioner Mark Ferron announced last week his abrupt retirement due to a battle with prostate cancer.

Before leaving, Ferron gave his frank assessment of the utility industry in a final report read aloud at a CPUC meeting. "We are fortunate to have utilities in California that are orders of magnitude more enlightened than their brethren in the coal-loving states, although I suspect that they would still dearly like to strangle rooftop solar if they could," he said. "Their strategy is often: 'we will give the Commission only what they explicitly order us to give them.' This is cat and mouse, not partnership, so we have to be one smart and aggressive cat."

"Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, with the passage of AB 327, the thorny issue of Net Energy Metering and rate design has been given over to the CPUC," Ferron said. "You – my fellow Commissioners – all must be bold and forthright in defending and strengthening our state’s commitment to clean and distributed energy generation."


Dive Insight:

California is an interesting case. The Golden State's leadership on energy policy is watched ....

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-regulator-fires-parting-shot-at-utilities/218286/