California may postpone shutdown of power plants that kill fish and sea lions. Here's why

[mahatmakanejeeves]

California may postpone shutdown of power plants that kill fish and sea lions. Here’s why
BY DALE KASLER
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 08:35 AM, UPDATED 1 HOUR 39 MINUTES AGO

BY ALYSSA HODENFIELD
California has been pushing for years to drive fossil fuels out of its electricity grid. Now it thinks it might have tap the brakes — and keep a fleet of natural gas-fired plants operating past their scheduled expiration dates — to make sure the state has enough power.

The proposal is prompting environmentalists to warn that California might backslide in its commitment to fighting air pollution and climate change. There’s also a threat, because of the specialized nature of these power plants, to fish species.

California has been at the forefront of incorporating solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy into its grid. The state’s utilities get about one third of their power from renewables already; state law says they must raise that to 50 percent by 2026, 60 percent by 2030 and go completely green by 2045.

At issue is the fate of 11 power plants, all fueled by natural gas, located on oceanfront property in Southern California. All of them are known as “once-through cooling” plants, which means they draw water from the ocean to cool themselves down. They’re all scheduled for shutdown in December 2020, under an order by the State Water Resources Control Board, mainly because the cooling systems have been known to kill fish and fish larvae.
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Dale Kasler covers climate change, the environment, economics and the convoluted world of California water. He also covers major enterprise stories for McClatchy’s Western newspapers. He joined The Bee in 1996 from the Des Moines Register and graduated from Northwestern University.

[IndyOp]

1. Ethics 101: Ethics are guidelines used when having to select one of two undesirable options.

We are in for a many, many, many, many more situations just like this. Environmental impact reports will find that going ahead with a project will endanger certain species and we'll go ahead with the project because not doing it will endanger more species.

Of course, CA should put a few trillion dollars into solar and wind and see if they can still make the goals.

[captain queeg]

2. The article touches on the need for the right kind of power.

There has to be a certain percentage of generation that responds more or less instantly. Things like solar, wind, nuclear and any of the steam plants that use some sort of fossil fuel generally won’t do it. I don’t know, maybe wind could pick up some under the right conditions.

Gas turbines fill the niche, as do hydro plants. Until battery technology and economics can fill the bill, or some new technology arises, we are stuck with a certain part of installed capacity being either gas or hydro.