To Combat Draught, California Approves "Temporary" Gas Generators

Despite California’s pledge to get 60% of its electricity from renewable power by 2030, Gov. Gavin Newsom just approved five temporary gas plants. And the culprit? Droughts, which have destroyed hydropower.

We’ve all been privy to the ongoing power saga in California which came to a head at the worst possible time last year. Increasingly dry conditions – which many blame on climate change – have caused AC usage to skyrocket. And with everyone stuck at home during the pandemic, the power demand rose to unsustainable levels.

The extra dry conditions also greatly exacerbated wildfire season, which is stronger than ever – as I wrote this, 13,500+ firefighters were trying to contain a dozen large wildfires.

As a result of the skyrocketing power demands, 2020 saw a series of rolling blackouts in California, and that, too, is still being felt – tangentially, the dry conditions have crippled hydropower in the state and, desperate to avoid more blackouts, Gov. Newsom has reluctantly approved 5 temporary gas plants, whereby he suspended “certain permitting requirements to allow greater energy production.”

Of course, this isn’t exactly breaking a long fossil fuel drought – as Gizmodo points out, Newsom approved more than 9,000 new oil and gas permits since 2019, as the Governor has supported a “managed decline” of fossil fuel production.

California’s Energy Commission gave the green light to the emergency gas generators – each of which will generate 30 megawatts – for a period of five years, and the generators will be installed and operational at existing power plants by mid-September.