California’s reliance on a large amount of imported electricity and fossil fuels is a potential weakness in the state’s energy security portfolio, a California Energy Commission staff report finds.
About 30% of the state’s electricity, 90% of its natural gas and 75% of its petroleum are imported, resulting in a potential “key vulnerability to the state’s overall energy health,” according to the agency’s California Energy Security Plan (CESP), which staff presented at a Feb. 11 CEC business meeting.
The CESP examined the state’s energy use and infrastructure and outlined state government agencies’ responsibilities in preventing and mitigating energy disruptions.
California imports more electricity than any other state and is the third largest consumer of electricity in the country.
Natural gas-fired power plants provide most of the state’s electricity capacity — 39,689 MW, or 45% of capacity. But about 90% of the state’s gas supplies are from out-of-state production basins, which are often thousands of miles away, the report says.
California is vulnerable also to spikes in electricity demand and downstream disruptions, which have been occurring more frequently in recent years, the report says.
During grid emergencies, CAISO might decide to reduce power exports and increase power imports. Energy shortages can affect any state resident but often affect vulnerable people most significantly.
Most of the state’s energy assets and infrastructure are owned and operated by private entities. This means that the state’s energy security plan relies on a free-market approach to control energy distribution and supply, the report says.
At the Feb. 11 meeting, CEC Vice Chair Siva Gunda asked if the agency should be considering other areas of concern not listed in the security plan.
Generative artificial intelligence is one of those areas, said Justin Cochran, senior nuclear policy adviser and emergency coordinator at the CEC.
“[Generative AI] is a developing concern still, though some of the concern has ramped down as build-out of generative AI is slowing or encountering barriers on both the deployment and technology side,” he said.
Another security concern: drones.
“I think the conflict in Ukraine has really expanded upon or shown the capability of drones, so that is a developing concern,” Cochran said.
Earthquakes are the natural hazard of highest concern, the report found. California has more than 200 faults that are potentially hazardous, while more than 70% of residents live within 30 miles of a fault where high ground shaking could occur in the next 50 years.
The next two most concerning hazards are wildfires and floods. In 2022, wildfires in the state killed nine people while destroying 772 structures and damaging 104 more.
The report also updated the state’s strategy for responding to a state emergency. One of the CEC’s roles in such an emergency is to develop and maintain the fuels set-aside program, which can be used during and after an earthquake, for example, the report says.
At the meeting, the CEC also approved a nearly $5.7 million grant for Monterey County to install 390 EV chargers and four solar photovoltaic systems at municipal facilities. Despite the increased availability of EVs and charging infrastructure, local governments in California continue to face barriers to scaling up municipal fleet decarbonization, translating into a need for significant state investment to increase the pace of EV adoption, the CEC’s award notice said.
