The dismantling of California’s San Onofre nuclear power plant is more than 60% completed. California allegedly considers itself a pioneer in coexisting with the natural environment, preventing resource abuse, conservationism, and green initiatives. Edicts and proclamations similar to the Soviet Union’s 5-year plans are used. Every slogan is more potent than the previous one, presumably pushing the agenda of developed technologies and promoting the state.
Unfortunately, the reality is more gloomy than the propaganda. According to Britannica’s Annual Almanac, California has to buy 75% of its electricity from other states to solve its power deficit. The same publication states that 65% of electrical power produced in the USA is coal-based. That means that 48.75% of all power utilized in California is based on coal.
Per the PG&E report, 20% of all the power generated in California falls under “unreliable” resources. Unreliable resources are those that can not be factored into the risk models and supply chains, such wind and solar energy.
If you travel through highly populated areas of California, like the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles, you will learn that the average household has recently upgraded its main panel to double its delivery capacity. It is often done with subscription over the nominal limit due to lack of grid capacity. The state forces the local delivery agency to focus on converting the last-mile delivery grid to the underground. The project is financed from the customers’ pockets since the state passed the resolution allowing PG&E to offset any business expenses via direct invoicing. It is better than most may think since the science behind the installation claims that there is no probability that a household will require the total capacity of the fuse box delivered all at once. With the forced introduction of Electric vehicles, the average power consumption in residential communities has leveled between night and day power grid utilization. An average vehicle battery charge uses 50 Amps of power.
To offset the looming lack of power and avoid rolling blackouts like in the summer of 2023, California has decided to extend the life span of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The banners of the green future remind more of the empty election platform as the propagandists forgot two critical assets required to succeed: power generation and power delivery. The logistics are missing and archaic. There is no long-term plan to resolve this. If only we had a long-term strategy to produce electrical power in abundance, which in turn would have solved some significant economic problems for the community: cheap power, water desolation, production of Hydrogen as the next potential fuel as the on-board energy generation for airplanes, trains, trucks, busses, cars. Cheaper logistics mean lower prices on food and goods, which increases everyone’s quality of life without stressing the dying economy even more.
Imagine the States getting together and working out the solution. For example, the States of space and deserts can create Fast Neutron power plants, which can use the fuel from the piled stashed nuclear arsenal, solving the problem of the deficit of nuclear resources. The power is distributed through AC and DC grids to the water-bordering States, like California, which can generate large quantities of water. At this point, we can cease Hydrogen production from Crude Oil on refineries, and it become feasible to produce it from water, making it cheap enough to develop technologies that will move generations of humans around. This is just a dream and can continue this snowball effect of benefits into the future. The long-term impact of education, critical thinking, science, and collaboration instead of proclamation and usurpation of power – is a dream come true.
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