If the looming spectre of rising electricity prices due to CARB’s upcoming “cap and trade” isn’t enough, now the Department of Water resources has opted to be less efficient by giving low cost electricity the boot. Somebody else will buy it, so there’s no net savings other than banking “feel good” capital.
From the green section of the Chico News and Review:
Coal-fired plant gets the boot
Department of Water Resources will not renew lease with Nevada plant
California’s Department of Water Resources will not renew a lease with the coal-burning Reid Gardner Power Station in Moapa Valley, Nev., as part of a recently released climate action plan.
The department aims to cut carbon emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, and the Reid Gardner plant, which has served the State Water Project (the water system that diverts water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta), accounts for one-fourth of DWR’s total emissions, according to The Sacramento Bee. Water Resources will purchase more energy from renewable energy sources, the California Independent System Operator and Lodi Energy Center, a natural gas plant beginning operations this summer.
Reid Gardner had accounted for about 10 to 15 percent of DWR’s energy for the past 30 years. The contract with the company expires in 2013.
“Californians are like granola, what aren’t fruits or nuts are flakes” – Charlotte Observer, travel section, sometime in a late 90’s visit to my hometown.
Given that AB 1368 sponsored by Don Perata (one of the biggest crooks ever in CA politics) was passed in 2006, it is illegal to use coal in CA because it puts out more than 1100 lbs of CO2 per MWH. A new contract can’t be signed and an extension probably falls under CEC rules that would likely prohibit the extension of the contract.
For CA taxpayers (not the NV power plant and coal producers), this is probably a good thing because it is likely to lower the DWR power costs. Natural gas is displacing coal in the generation of electricity across the country because gas generation has become much cheaper than coal. Natural gas would have to go from $2.50/mmBTU to $5/mmBTU for coal to become a more competitive option. As someone mentioned, this isn’t likely to last “forever” but appears likely for the next 10 years given the foward gas curve.
For those that don’t know what the DWR does, it is the CA State agency that pumps Northern CA water to irrigate crops in the Central Valley and to pump the water over the mountains into the LA Basin. The electricity isn’t sold to customers, but is only used to pump water. For DWR to generate electricity is about 3 times cheaper than buying power from CA’s Enron (aka PG&E).
To get an idea what the LEC gas plant costs to generate electricity requires knowing that it is one of the most efficient plants in the world. It’s heat rate is 6.8 mmBTU/MWH. At $2.50/mmBTU natural gas, it will cost $17 plus $5 O&M to generate 1 MWH. Adding about $20 for capital costs, the total costs are about $43/MWH ($0.043 cents /kWh). Even coal plants that are fully amortized can barely touch this cost. Add the costs for Mercury and Sulphur abatement, coal becomes even more uneconomic. Financially, this is not at bad deal for CA taxpayers! At $5/mmBTU natural gas in 10 years, the total cost is $59/mmBTU ($0.059 cents/kWh); still much cheaper than PG&E.
While I agree with most of the commenter’s here about CO2 not being a problem, it is the low cost of natural gas that is driving this decision, not CO2 regulations directly.
As an aside, this Green Party writer thinks the global warming scam is one of the biggest head fakes in history. It’s purpose is to divert all activist’s energy into opposing global warming and not in organizing to bring down the 1% and bring back wage equity among people.
A recent price note: http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/13/abengoa-to-build-200-mw-imperial-valley-solar-pv-farm/
If the figures are accurate, the price works out to about $0.03/kwh. In the Imperial Valley there are about 350 sunny days per year, so the price may be a little closer to $0.02/kwh. In the Imperial Valley, a major use of electricity is to move the water for irrigation, and that is mostly done during day time.
During the next 20 years, the price of electricity from PV panels will most likely continue to decline, but the price of electricity from other sources will most likely not decline.
That’s only one news report from a group of solar power enthusiasts, but there are many sources documenting the decline of the cost of electricity from PV panels. It is a story worth following.
Check this out: http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/13/abengoa-to-build-200-mw-imperial-valley-solar-pv-farm/
If the figures are correct, the cost of the electricity is approximately $0.03/kwh. In the Imperial Valley there are about 350 sunny days per year, and a major use of electricity is to pump water for irrigation. Statewide, one of the major uses of electricity is to pump water for irrigation, and the need for that is confined almost entirely to the daytime. Costs of electricity from solar power continue to decline, so this story is worth following. Probably, solar power for pumping water is probably close to optimal for California.
ursus augustus says:
June 21, 2012 at 3:04 pm
“Meanwhile Californians with drive hither and thither in their tens of millions in their cars between ariconditioned/heated homes and airconditioned/heated workplaces and generally gobble up the brainless bling of modern consumer society as they upsize their lives to obese pointlessness. Shhh, dont mention the banality of it all. Its the economy stupid, i.e. its a stupid, uneconomic economy.”
What is your suggestion? A smart centrally planned economy? Good luck. Don’t you think it should be left to each one of those millions who you deride as brainless how he/she will manage his/her own resources?
What outcome will be better? One brain of the smart central technocratic planner, probably called “Ursus Augustus”, or the millions of brains of the people you deride? Wanna bet?
Why do you think all people except you are stupid? Have you seen a reality show on TV and confused it with reality? I have news for you. Real people might not all be Einsteins but gimme five of them and we’ll outperform any central planner.
A classic case is California, where commercial electrical rates are already 50% higher than in any other state in the Union. Because of recently enacted state legislation and the upcoming “California Global Warming Solutions Act”, it’s estimated that an additional hike in energy prices of between 19% to 74%, dependent on your location in California, will occur in the next decade.
Companies have been relocating, in whole or in part, out of California. It’s a bit like the California gold rush of 1849, but in reverse; everyone is getting the hell out of the place. In the first quarter of last year alone, one business relocater counted 70 of these “disinvestment events”, as they’re euphemistically called, and that in a state with a 10.9% unemployment rate and some very severe budgetary problems.
http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/the-sun-is-setting-on-solar-power-the-moneys-gone-and-nobodys-asking-any-questions/
Pointman
Kent Beuchert says
You forgot France. The biggest nuclear user in Europe, if not the world. 82.5% of our electricity is from nuclear. The greenie beenies have banned the extraction of gas by fracking so diesel and petrol along lwith heating fuel are all the most expensive. In all fairness though, the UK has the most stupid political elite and the highest carburant taxes along with expensive diesel. That’s because that halfwit Brown (I will save the world if you let me) introduced an immediate 6% rise in diesel tax with a 3% rise in petrol tax with an automatic inflator every year of inflation plus %.
Electricity prices in SW France
8.17c = 10.21 c $ plus
0.0045 € contribution to the publis electricity service ???
Plus V.A.T of 19.6%
Total 16.99c /Kwh
There are different rates for summer and winter and for night and day;
Here in the Canadian equivalent of California, British Columbia, current electricity rates are $0.068/KwH for the first 1376 KwH and then $0.10190 for any power consumption more than that. Of course there are various fees and taxes added to this but power is still fairly cheap in comparison to rates other people have posted. (prices in Canadian dollars).
The province of BC is run by moonbats who have decreed that no nuclear power plants will be built in this province and that no more hydroelectric dams will be built. Instead, we’re supposed to use “renewable” sources for electric power. That means that electricity prices will climb steadily and I’m looking into getting a natural gas powered generator to produce my own power.
I’ve never understood why hydroelectric power is not considered “sustainable” whereas bird blenders which destroy pristine wilderness are considered to be “sustainable”. The provincial electricity distributor, BC Hydro, has been sending out survey’s to people asking them about how they’re conserving power. They likely didn’t like my answers as I had 11 computers on my home network when I last counted and they are only turned off for annual fan cleanings (the PC’s, not the ARM based fanless machines). From what I’ve seen of the BC Hydro mailings, they seem to want BC residents to sit in darkness with lights being turned on and appliances being used only if absolutely necessary. Thus far I’ve avoided having a “smart meter” installed on my house by putting up a notice that I would consider any attempt to install a surveillance device on my property as criminal trespass. I’m sure I will hear from them at some future date about this issue but unfortunately we don’t have the 5th Amendment to the constitution as a legal basis for disputing installation of “smart meters” in Canada.
One of the reasons BC Hydro gave for installing “smart meters” in BC was to prevent theft of power utilized in producing BC’s largest agricultural crop; cannabis grown indoors. The old meters allowed one to obtain instantaneous information about ones power consumption – a feature that the new “smart meters” don’t have.
Here in the previously arid environment of Kamloops, the local city moonbats have been seduced by the false predictions of AGW and, against the wishes of the population, mandated that every house have a water meter installed. This was because the predictions of the AGW models are that the interior of BC will be far warmer and rainfall will diminish. This spring was the wettest one that I’ve ever seen in Kamloops and the local rivers are threatening to exceed the flood level of the last major flood in 1948. The snowpack upriver is at record highs and, if it does warm up as expected, we’ll be in for a dose of Gaia’s unique sense of humor. Whenever I look at the steadily rising river from the 7th floor hospital window, I just think of all of the potential energy that one could utilize with a simple dam on the Thompson river; now banned by the moonbats in Victoria. There’s a huge amount of potential irrigation water there all now running out to the Pacific being totally wasted in response to moonbat decrees. The long term weather forecast of what one can expect in a La Nina cycle on WUWT have been far more accurate than the AGW based climate models predicting far hotter and drier summers in this part of the world. Unfortunately it means I have to head out to the SE US for my holidays if I want to experience sunshine.
Matthew R Marler says:
June 21, 2012 at 11:17 pm
Matthew
You need to look closer at PV output. It is as useless as wind mills. It varies too much, destabilizes the grid, is very inefficient ~~ 18 – 20%, needs a lot of land and a lot of maintenance. We need a new PV technology for it to be of any real use.
The department aims to cut carbon emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, and the Reid Gardner plant, which has served the State Water Project (the water system that diverts water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta), accounts for one-fourth of DWR’s total emissions, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Lemme see if I got this: Reid Gardner burns coal and produces electricity and emissions, so — somehow, probably by magic — the DWR’s purchase of RG electricity means that it was DWR that actually produced the emissions.
That’s like saying that, if I ate a double-pepperoni pizza while reading the post, Anthony is the one who’ll get the heartburn.
California, the unlocked insane asylum where the residents decide to stay because the food is good and there’s a nice view from their cell window. Plus smoking is encouraged, for medicinal purposes only.
On the off chance there’s a general return to sanity and reason, could the last person to leave California please disconnect the LED night light from the solar panel?
I ran into some of the consequences last power bill. They started sending me “Smart Meter” nag notices. They figured out I cook dinner at dinner time and we watch TV after work is done… Go figure…
So I’ve deprecated my All Electric Kitchen pending replacement with a gas stove. I’m setting up an outdoor kitchen in the interim:
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/camping-at-home-is-cheaper/
Turns out using propane out doors is cheaper… The BBQ makes a lot more air pollution, and I’m using more fossil fuels, but hey, anything to “save the planet” via lower electricity consumption, right?
Especially as the future tariff requests are for $1/2 per kW-hr rates… By then it will be cheaper to run my Diesel car and put the generator output into a battery bank to run the ‘baseline’ house needs. But hey, having the Diesel idle in the driveway is a small price to pay to “save the planet” via less electricity consumption…
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/strange-how-economics-works/
And yes, we’re actively planning an exit… Just one more year and the last kid is done with college…
@Ed Barbar:
Lowes has a decent LED bulb for $10 (for the ’60 Watt’ equivalent) and $20 for the ‘100 Watt’ equivalent or for the one that works well in table lamps (has a more ‘all around’ light output).
I’ve tried more different kinds of bulbs than I care to admit, and these are pretty good ones. Just look for the cheapest ones on the shelf. They come in two ‘color temperatures’ so unless you are fond of 5000K blue, get the one with the yellow inner paper ring on the packaging.
As $4000 would buy 400 of them, I have to think they are cheaper than what you are looking at…
Also, FWIW, most CFL bulbs are about as efficient overall as LEDs. Close enough that you can put CFLs in many of the outlets and not notice. While I like LEDs better (no mercury and instant on and dimmable), it is possible to use the CFLs too and get most of the benefit.
I have had the argument put to me by more than 1 physicist that the history of the advance of humanity it driven by the ready availability of cheap energy. e.g.
Caveman – hands (< 1horse power) wood fire
ox
horse
steam engine/coal
…
nuclear
The argument is that we advance in quantum leaps as a society when the energy source of the day is abundant and cheap.
So is this a first for human history where we go backwards?
When all of the aircraft companies declare that they are shutting their plants and moving to Texas, maybe the citizens will decide to burn Commissar Mary N and her fellow travellers at the stake.
Re:Matthew R Marler says:
June 21, 2012 at 11:17 pm
“If the figures are accurate, the price works out to about $0.03/kwh. In the Imperial Valley there are about 350 sunny days per year, so the price may be a little closer to $0.02/kwh. In the Imperial Valley, a major use of electricity is to move the water for irrigation, and that is mostly done during day time.”
Those numbers are utterly preposterous, as anyone with a calculator and an amortization table can demonstrate. The levelized capital component alone of a solar plant over 20 years exceeds those numbers by many orders of magnitude. When running that calculation, be aware that capacity factor in the sunniest of climes (think Death Valley) for photovoltaic solar is no better than 25% and that well under half the cost of such a plant resides in the solar cells themselves.
But you don’t even have to go that far to discover the truth. Just look to the European experience. There, rather than hide the true cost of solar through “front-end” subsidies such as investment tax credits and accelerated depreciation, they pay the actual cost in required revenue “at the fence”. When Spain unilaterally dropped their payments to solar plants to 40-cents (U.S.) per Kwh, many of those plants fell into bankruptcy because they could not support their bank financing payments.
In the U.S., the quoted wholesale price for our current mix of sources at the Palo Verde trading hub this morning for firm on-peak power was 2.8-cents per Kwh. The remainder of your residential utility bill today will cover transmission and utility fixed costs that continue on regardless of the power source. Assume your current residential rate is 10-cents per Kwh. In that great day when we are “all solar” you bill would be 47.2-cents per Kwh (using the Spanish “starve the plant operator” rate) and that figure does not include the cost of conventional backup power you would need if you expect the lights to come on “when the sun don’t shine).
Solar is an economic DOG that knows no peer.
Todays price of gas is $2.00 per MMbtu (Henry Hubb)
MBTU is occasionally expressed as MMBTU, which is intended to represent a thousand thousand BTUs (1 Million BTU’s).
1 kiloWattHour(KwH) = 3412 Btu.
So the fuel cost per KwH is ($2/10^ 6Btu)*3412 = 0.68 cents (Yes, less than one cent)
That’s why it’s necessary to charge 20 to 40 cents per KwH.
So just what the hell is it that the dwr dummies don’t know the difference between water, (H2O), and electricity ( – e > + ). They shood get back to dousing for H2O, and leave the – e > + to the adults.
California? At least you have decent weather! Take Illinois…..please!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-illinois-in-poorest-fiscal-condition-of-all-states-20120621,0,1446672.story
If our politicians could figure out a climate scam that lined their pockets, we’d have one.
I just lost a whole hour’s work to this stupid editor; can’t even figure out which accidental key push wipes everything out; BUT !!!
FWIRW, CFLs aren’t anywhere close to being as efficient as LEDs, and never can or will be.
The short version for you to put your own flesh on, now mine went byebye.
With cfls, you get 100% of the flux has Stokes losses; not as much with LEDs, and someleds can be zero Stokes loss. cfls are 4pi sources; leds are 2pi, so cfls are optically stupid.
Try getting 150 lumens per Watt, out of cfls.
Lowes led bulbs are poor compared to what Home Depot has, and pretty much all communist red chinese too.
I’ve been 100% LED lit for more than a year now. I have a 48 Watt “garage” light (replace a 2 foot fluor tube), that puts out 6,000 lumens @ur momisugly 4,000 K color.
CFLs are likely to get banned before incandescents are even cold in their grave, and then who’s gonna clean up all that mercury.
Sorry you can’t get the G-light; we built it ourselves.
I’m no lawyer, but it looks to me like some enterprising attorney might make some money on challenging the California rates based on usage with no attention given to location. For instance, if one lived in Bakersfield, the hot weather there would drive costs up significantly vs. if one lives in say, San Francisco, where air conditioning is rarely needed(or so I’ve heard, I’ve only been there once, and froze my butt off in June). Why should a person be punished for living in Bakerfield? Just a thought, any lawyers here?
I read some comments the state the idiocy of those who are in power and that we elected them so ….. A big part of the problem is that only idiots are willing to jump into that snake pit … idiots with huge egos, narcissistic tendencies and more money than they deserve. Or they come from the looney left and are supported by the evil marionette masters of he Global Feudal System effort … you know …. a return to fiscal (and now Eco) slavery for the masses and paradise for those who rule.
If you happen to have one …. do not get rid of your gun …. you very likely will need it at some point in the not too distant future. Just sayin’.
Energy increases are a regressive TAX on the poor. But … not a peep from leftists about their economic sabotage of the working poor and working middle class
If I wrote what I really think of the people who run California, you’d have to delete all the foul language. So I’ll just say that California is being run by the biggest bunch of Bozos I have ever seen. This makes me wonder:
Is there intelligent life in Sacramento ????