Ric Llewellyn: Push toward energy independence
| Friday, Sep 18 2009 12:17 PM
Last Updated Friday, Sep 18 2009 12:31 PM
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Alex Horvath / The Californian Columnist Ric Llewellyn
Energy is a hot button. From how it's produced to the cost we consumers pay, there's a lot going on. I am an alternative energy advocate. And I think nuclear has huge potential. We also have all the infrastructure in place to utilize fossil fuels, so we should be developing that resource too. I'm for all of it.
Alternative energy has become quite fashionable, especially in electricity generation. Wind, solar, tides, dairies. If you can work "carbon emissions" or "global warming" into the press release, you've got a winner.
Electricity is the lifeblood of our America. Are you ready to turn back the clock on your standard of living? Until the technology improves on alternative electric energy sources, they all have to be considered experimental and supplementary. Here's why.
We use lots of power and California's peak demand occurs in the late afternoon and early evening. Electric energy runs our appliances, lights, industrial equipment, BART, cell towers, and the list goes on almost endlessly. Could we rely on wind power?
You've driven through Tehachapi. They call it a wind farm. According to the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Tehachapi is the second largest turbine array in the world (about 5,000) and has the highest power output. About 7,000 wind turbines are perched on the ridges of Altamont Pass and 3,000 more stand as a gauntlet at San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs.
I've driven through these three facilities and I appreciate the technology. But there is something about these wind turbine orchards that just doesn't sit well. These 15,000 turbines represent a mere 1 percent of California's power needs! So the first problem with wind is developing capacity in wind-rich locations.
Control over output is another significant problem. The wind blows, just not all the time. I took a trip to the Bay Area this summer. It was hot! Conditions were such that the energy-rich wind that usually pours through the Altamont was calm. The same conditions stopping the wind also drove up demand for electricity to power A/C units. The more we rely on wind the more vulnerable we will be to energy curtailments. Citizens will be the first to suffer reductions, with business and essential services following.
The sun, you say, is the answer. There are two large solar projects proposed for the southern San Joaquin area. The largest is Topaz Solar Farm. It would produce about 550 megawatts of electricity. That is less than 2 percent of the peak demand for a moderate summer's day.
In addition, a plant like Topaz will cover more than six square miles with photovoltaic solar panels. That would be like covering everything from Niles Street to Brundage Lane between Mt. Vernon Avenue and Morning Drive, or from Buena Vista Road to Ashe Road between Panama Lane and Taft Highway!
Even a thermal plant like Carrizo Energy Solar Farm covers an area the size of 24th Street to California Avenue, between D and P streets with mirror structures as tall as a 5-story building. And the output is one-third that of a Topaz plant. In addition, summer days have high demand into the evening and a solar plant may not be reliable enough to carry load through the peak.
The point is this: Our way of life requires a large electric generating capacity that is directly controlled by us. We need an energy supply that can be increased and reduced with demand. It cannot be susceptible to meteorological whim or follow a natural cycle that doesn't support energy demand cycles.
Today the technology of alternative energy is suitable for supplementary use. Alternative sources could power a dairy or reduce electric bills for residential customers. But until the technologies mature, the unrelenting push to renewables will bring new hardships. Energy cost and availability will be the greatest concerns.
While the alternative technologies are developing we need to expand traditional technologies and push toward energy independence. Explore and develop fossil fuels. Repeal the moratorium on nuclear plants in California. Continue to drive clean coal technology. And above all, optimize the efficient use of electric energy everywhere it is utilized.
-- Ric LLewellyn, who has more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry, is one of four conservative community columnists whose work appears here every Saturday. These are the opinions of Llewellyn, not necessarily The Californian's. You can send e-mail to him at rllewellyn@bakersfield.com. Next week: Ralph Bailey
