PUC Vote on Carlsbad Gas Plant Due; Push Made For Renewable Energy

A tug-of- war over the future of electrical power for coastal North County is coming to a head this week.

In dispute is how big a role solar power and other renewable energy sources should play in combination with a new, natural gas power plant in Carlsbad.

Branded the Carlsbad Energy Center, it’s a $2.6 billion facility that’ll serve 800,000 households starting sometime in 2017, once the ancient Encina power plant is taken offline.

The ultimate goal is to replace the power lost when the San Onofre nuclear plant was shut down in 2013 by steam generator failures.

North County residents and clean energy providers are pushing the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to require that renewables such as solar power make up at least a quarter of the San Onofre power gap, and they want San Diego Gas & Electric to entertain outside bids for even more.

"I actually think it can help their bottom line,” said Solana Beach city councilman Peter Zahn. “Renewable energy has gotten to the point where it is just as cost-effective as natural gas and other fossil fuels. But they really don't come from that place -- that's not their history."

Green energy activists are taking that message to lawmakers who have pushed back against the PUC, questioning what they believe is the commission's deference to the oil and petroleum industries in energy production and rate-setting issues.

"We want to take control of our power. We feel very strongly about this,” said Carlsbad resident Mary Oren in an interview following at a Solana Beach news conference convened Tuesday by the Sierra Club and other groups.

"I think that as more technology is available, like battery storage,” Oren told NBC 7, “it's only a matter of time before citizens say 'Enough's enough' -- and somebody's got to listen."

Other north coast residents raised doubts about the potential output from solar sources during cloudy or inclement weather spells.

"I'm kind of 50-50 in this; I do believe in renewable sources,” Carlsbad resident Jeff Marasso remarked as he strolled along stretch of coastal road across from the Encina plant site.

However, Marasso added: “You know, Germany is overcast a lot, but they're about 80 percent renewable. So if we could come to some kind of a balance … anything that helps the city of Carlsbad, I'm all for."

Zahn, meantime, offers a case that renewables make for good local-business development.

"We have tremendous start-up activity with new ventures in San Diego,” he said “San Diego is becoming -- and could become much more of -- a hotbed for clean technologies."

The power replacement issue is scheduled for a PUC vote Thursday in San Francisco on a compromise plan by the commission’s president.

That alternative, according Sierra Club activists, would provide for a reduction in natural gas generation by about 17 percent, while allowing a boost in the component of renewables in the remaining mix by up to 50 percent.

For its part, SDG&E is seeking a postponement of the action in order to study other options.

In comments filed with the PUC Monday, the utility cited a processing delay in its application and outsource bids that prompted SDG&E “to encourage the commission to review them.”

As the delay persisted, the firm said, “we began to see other regulatory and legislative events that gave us pause for some level of concern.”
 

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