(PresidentialHill.com)- Some policy experts warn that California’s aggressive push to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources could cause the state to face years of blackouts and grid failures, Fox News Digital reported.
California’s power grid, which continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels, is currently shifting to renewable sources like solar and wind. At the same time, the state’s push to transition its economy to electric, most notably by mandating electric vehicles, will likely increase strain on its electric grid.
California wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent in the next 20 years while cutting oil consumption by 94 percent by increasing solar and wind capacity. Additionally, the state’s environmental agency recently moved forward with a rule to make all new vehicle sales electric by 2035.
But according to experts who spoke with Fox News, the environmental mandates are already creating instability in the electric grid. And this instability will only increase once the current fossil fuel capacity is phased out and replaced by wind and solar.
The California Policy Center’s Edward Ring told Fox that it would take “an outrageous amount” of solar and wind to accomplish the state’s goals of electrifying transportation and home heating and cooling. This will add a “very heavy” burden on California consumers, Ring warned.
Ring added that even if the state can thread the needle and pull off this transition without causing blackouts, the burden on consumers will still be “ridiculous.”
During last summer’s heat waves, California’s electric grid operator warned that the increased demand for electricity was placing significant strain on the power grid. In September, California residents were told to conserve electricity and expect rolling blackouts for over a week.
Myron Ebell from the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment told Fox that consumers in California are already suffering since the state is shutting off natural gas and converting to electricity while also forcing residents into electric vehicles.
Ebell told Fox that these actions will only increase demand on the already strained power grid.
