California, US - 4 GW of new capacity to ensure grid reliability

In the last six months or so, California has experienced reliability challenges due to high temperatures in the summer, as well as devastating storms and atmospheric rivers that have played havoc with the electric grid, said Michael Colvin.

Power providers are, however, facing challenges in bringing new electricity resources online, in part due to supply chain crunches following the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The California Public Utilities Commission has announced that it is considering asking electricity providers in the state to procure 4 GW of new capacity to ensure grid reliability, in addition to the 11.5 GW of procurement the regulators ordered in 2021. According to the Commission, the additional capacity is required for a variety of reasons, including updated load forecasts that suggest electricity demand is increasing more than previously expected, the impacts of a changing climate, and the likelihood that more fossil fuel plants will be retiring, according to the agency.

"The more that California can invest in the near to mid-term in clean energy resources, and then fine tune how much we need later, I think is going to be a better result for customers... and the decarbonization transition," Michael Colvin, director of regulatory and legislative affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, said.

Source: Utility Drive