Guest Commentary
by John Gordon
The bottom line of the recent Southwest power outage is that San Diego was never more than a misplaced car accident, lightning bolt, brushfire, or otherwise inane occurrence away from a disaster. Until significant infrastructure improvements are made to better link the San Diego grid with the rest of California, San Diego’s electrical reliability will only get worse as the region continues to grow.
The San Diego-Orange-Los Angeles electrical corridor has been designated as an area of concern by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) because of its high congestion. Yet little is done to improve electrical capacity, and it has been 25 years since the second of San Diego’s two high-capacity links to the rest of the state was built. Theoretically, the role of the regional transmission organization (RTO) known as the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) was to isolate the malfunctioning line from Yuma and re-direct power to San Diego through other paths. However, the SD-OC-LA corridor was already so congested that it could not carry a meaningful amount of extra energy to San Diego, and the other link was simply insufficient. The result was a crash of the entire system.
It could be easy to point the finger at SDG&E for this blackout, but that is the one entity in the area that has attempted to alleviate this situation by building the Sunrise Power Link. In addition, although SDG&E owns and maintains its electrical lines and generators, it surrendered operation of its transmission when it joined CAISO.
The purpose of an RTO is to create efficiency and reliability by planning and operating the electrical grid on a regional scale. And although CAISO is responsible for regional grid planning, actually improving electrical infrastructure by building new lines and/or increasing capacity on pre-existing right-of-ways involves the reality that California is among the two most difficult states to get regulatory approval for such projects. Additionally, whereas most RTOs in the country are organized as multi-state non-profits, CAISO is subject to political considerations resulting from its board members being nominated by the governor and subject to Senate confirmation.
The Sunrise Power Link exemplifies the difficulties utilities such as SDG&E face from regulators and independent intervenor groups; even when the need for an improvement is painfully obvious. In most states, Public Utility Commissions exist for the purpose of holding utility companies and RTOs accountable for conducting grid reliability planning, making the necessary infrastructure improvements to keep grids stable enough to withstand disaster events, and minimizing electric rates. By contrast, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) pays little attention to retail electricity rates and infrastructure, instead inviting NIMBY and environmental groups to dominate proceedings while it focuses on increasing the percentage of generation that comes from renewable sources and incentivizing plug-in cars – a baffling situation when one considers that renewable generators will need transmission lines to link their power to the CAISO grid, and that the infrastructure in California lacks sufficient capacity to handle the stress that California’s goals for plug-in cars will cause. It is a California anomaly that a utility like SDG&E took the initiative to invest in infrastructure and the State blocked it for five years.
There are many arguments out there for how to improve grid reliability. Environmentalists think smart grid technology is the golden egg. Some also think that San Diego should be more self-reliant on energy and further isolate itself from the rest of the grid. To do so deprives the region of the cost-saving efficiencies that participation in an RTO brings and exposes San Diego to the risk of being isolated if a single regional disaster knocks out a critical mass of local generation. Plus, if it took Sunrise five years just to break ground, imagine the approval process for a new power plant.
San Diego, and the rest of the Southern California, needs more transmission — period. Smart grid gimmicks and finger pointing won’t change the fact that until CAISO plans, and the CPUC approves, the infrastructure that will make the grid stable, San Diego’s vulnerability to such events will only increase as the region grows.
John Gordon is a Public Affairs consultant with ProActive Communications whose specialties include in energy infrastructure planning, reliability and regulation. A former staff member for the SDGOP, consultant at Pacific Gateway Group, veteran of numerous San Diego-area campaigns and USCD alum, his experience also includes having been an aide to Senator David Vitter in Louisiana during the Horizon oil spill, the Mississippi River spill and numerous hurricanes.