The Dawn of the Great California Energy Crash

California, which imports over 25% of its electricity from out of state, lost half its nuclear power capacity earlier this year when the San Onofre plant in San Diego went offline. This worsens the broad energy deficit that has made California the US state most dependent on expensive, out-of-state power.

Its two nuclear plants—San Onofre and Diablo Canyon—used to provide more than 15% of the electricity that California generated for itself, before imports. Now it may have to import as much as 30% of its power.

California’s energy dependency problem has been decades in the making. And it’s not just its electrical power balance that presents a challenge. California’s oil production peaked in 1985. Despite ongoing gains in energy efficiency, the state’s population and aggregate energy consumption has completely overrun supply.

Only a century ago, California was an emerging giant of oil and gas production, building much of its wealth from natural resource extraction. It was inevitable that this would change over time. However, given the state’s high-priced electricity, its transportation system (which is heavily exposed to oil prices), and its deep financial distress, America’s largest economy has to exchange greater amounts of capital to keep itself running.

Indeed, the latest data shows that California energy production from all sources—oil and gas, nuclear, hydro, and renewables—has just hit 50-year lows.

To read Gregor MacDonald article: The Dawn of the Great California Energy Crash

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Tagged as: California, Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Energy, Nuclear power, San Diego, San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, U.S. state, United States