“We prefer the Diablo we know”
The American Nuclear Society joined a complaint last week before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission based on the California power blackouts due to heatwaves on the West Coast.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant has been a source of safe, clean electricity for more than 40 years, owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric, an investor owned utility. FERC is an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity.
Protecting California’s grid reliability
Comments filed in favor of the complaint on Nov. 12, say “In the wake of blackouts or extreme event, Diablo Canyon’s fuel-secured, reliable and safe baseload power will surely be needed to restore power in California. We prefer the Diablo we know, over the costs, risks, and uncertainty of a power grid without it.”
The complaint has three parts, that FERC conduct a reliability analysis on how the continued safe operation of Diablo Canyon provides reliability benefits, enforce reliability standards, and repair the significant reliability concerns.
The International Professional Organization of Engineers and Scientists said, “it is a shortsighted decision to shutter prematurely California’s largest clean energy resource.” The request is also supported by the American Nuclear Society.
Balancing renewable energy
The California grid was designed to function without energy storage, maintaining the balance between supply and demand by adding or curtailing the amount of energy. The “Balancing Authority” performs this function with power control centers similar to air traffic control towers. Grid controllers use displays of the transmission lines, power stations, and demand forecasts. The actual demand changes all the time, making it difficult to balance the grid.
With solar and wind feeding the grid with an unpredictable amount of energy, grid controllers have to make quick decisions to avoid power disruptions. New scheduling rules use the resource with the lowest cost, avoid losses of solar or wind energy, and provide grid stability. Recent studies have found the best way to manage renewable grids is by adding nuclear power. The result is an abundant, safe, clean, low-cost energy mix. Please see “Deep decarbonization for renewable energy,” by Jesse Jenkins. This is a unique approach that has been ignored by other “energy” experts, who only consider the cost of energy resources.
Solar energy systems avoid overproduction when used near the load, sending excess generation to the grid. Solar farms are better than gas power plants but have all the problems of bulk generation. Distributed solar is the best way to harness sunlight, like trees in a forest.
Climate mitigation
“Nuclear is part of the solution to climate change,” Dr. James Hansen said during a 2015 climate panel. “The dangers of fossil fuels are staring us in the face. So, for us to say we won’t use all the tools to solve the problem is crazy.” Hansen’s solution is to use all the clean energy we can: solar and wind balanced with safe nuclear power.
Frackers hate nuclear power
Frackers know that shutting down nuclear plants will keep us burning fossil fuels. That is the reason they want to shut down Diablo!
Ernest J. Moniz is a dangerous fracker. Moniz is a former Secretary of the Department of Energy, selling “clean” coal and the false promise of removing carbon from the atmosphere.
Moniz continues to profit from oil and gas investments. Moniz founded the Energy Futures Institute to “harnesses the power of innovation to build a secure, affordable, low-carbon energy future.” His report “Pathways for Deep Decarbonization in California” says the use of carbon, capture, and storage is the single largest contributor to California’s decarbonization by 2030. Moniz is dishonest.
Last month, at Nuclear Energy at a Crossroads, Moniz said, “Energy efficiency combined with wind, solar, and natural gas to balance variable renewables is the solution.” Moniz chooses fracking to profit from his investments.
The fracker in the White House
Our Fracker-in-Chief signed an order to protect fracking from our next president and is demanding the top U.S. banks continue financing coal mines, coal-fired power plants, and Arctic drilling.
Don’t be afraid
Like Dr. Hansen said, let’s use all the tools to mitigate climate change.
A green grid needs solar, wind, and nuclear energy – to stay below 2C
The goal is zero emissions – decarbonization of the grid is required
Without nuclear energy — using hydroelectric, tide, wave or other climate-dependent resources — power blackouts would be caused by solar and wind variability.
Jesse Jenkins has proved nuclear is needed, an abundant, safe, clean, available source of energy
https://www.cell.com/joule/pdf/S2542-4351(18)30386-6.pdf
Before leaving the White House the Fracker in Chief tells JP Morgan, Citibank, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs to finance oil and gas projects
What else could go wrong?
https://www.axios.com/banks-oil-limits-regulator-4fdb88a1-5a48-4cbc-a68e-8cfccddec000.html
In 2019, the Kemper plan manager spoke up about the $8 billion Kemper scam
Ex-Kemper plant manager says execs ignored her warnings: ‘It was essentially a cover-up’
Williams spoke about the deceit, fraud and cover-up she saw firsthand. Williams was a construction manager at the Kemper County power plant, which is now the subject of a second federal probe.
The plant was supposed to use new technology to burn cheap, wet coal found in eastern Mississippi without sending plumes of smoke into the atmosphere. Leaders across the globe watched the years-long project to see whether “clean coal” was truly feasible. It was an $8 billion flop.
Deadlines passed and budgets ballooned, yet the message from the plant’s owner, Southern Company, stayed the same — the plant would be successful.
Then in 2017, Southern Company reversed course. The company announced it had given up on the first-of-its-kind coal plant and said the plant and would only burn gas.
Now, Southern Company is warning investors of a new civil investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Williams said there’s plenty to investigate. “I believe there were some frauds committed regarding the cost of the project and when things were known versus when they were publicly admitted,” Williams said. “…The people of Mississippi were deceived from the very beginning on the project.”
The plant was built and operated by Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co.
Williams was a construction site manager at the power plant project in 2010, when Southern Co. was telling investors the project was expected to cost $2.4 billion and be operational by 2014.
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/10/kemper-power-plant-ex-manager-calls-cover-up/1127749001/
Have you heard of Southern Co?
This “company from the South” is not about Fried Chicken or Corn, it is the second largest Gas & Electrical utility in the US with close ties to the Department of Energy (DOE).
Why is this relevant?
Ernest Moniz was the head of DOE when the Kemper “clean coal” CCS power plant was built. DOE gave Kemper $416 million. Moniz supervised the wonder project with frequent visits to Kemper.
The coal world watched with anticipation how a $2 billion project went over time and budget. Kemper is the most expensive $8 billion polluting coal plant, demonstrating CSS is never going to work.
As a reward, Moniz landed on the Board of Southern Co, the owner of the failed Kemper plant “clean coal” project.
Moniz is a dangerous coal man.
https://www.southerncompany.com/corporate-responsibility/corporate-responsibility-newsroom/governance-articles/dr-ernest-moniz-to-join-southern-company-board.html
Ernest Moniz in the short list for Biden’s Department of Energy (DOE) – not known when I wrote this column
The comments about Moniz as a “dangerous fracker, selling “clean” coal and the false promise of removing carbon from the atmosphere” are now highly relevant.
Here is what others are saying:
“”Ernest Moniz’s ‘all of the above’ energy policies might be good for his friends in the coal, oil and gas industries, but they’re a death sentence for us and our planet.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/planet-stake-climate-coalition-pressures-biden-reject-corporate-shill-ernest-moniz