Road To California: More Diesel And Natural Gas Backup Generation Projects -- May 15, 2022

This story lacks any real detail but one small bit of trivia helps.

Link to Julianne Geiger.

California to spend $5.2 billion on electricity reserve to avoid blackouts. 

But not much is said with regard to "creating a strategic electricity reliability reserve."

Except for this one paragraph ready for parsing:

But renewables and California's electricity exports have also stressed the grid. 

The Reserve will be developed using existing generation capacity that was scheduled to retire, new generation, new storage projects, clean backup generation projects, customer side load reduction capacity that is visible to and dispatchable by CAISO during grid emergencies, and diesel and natural gas backup generation projects—which the budget document stressed would have emission controls and all required permits. 

Of note were two items in that list: "existing generation capacity that was scheduled to retire" and "diesel and natural gas backup generation projects".

"California electricity exports"? From nuclear plants due to be retired? 

This looks like a list of stuff designed to hide where the bulk of that $5.2 billion will go: to diesel and natural gas.

The committee, of course, knowing the pushback they would get, "stressed that diesel and natural gas backup genertion projects would have emission controls and all required permits. LOL. That's nice. All required permits. 

This is what Chevron, et all, heard: "blah, blah, blah, blah, more diesel and natural gas back up, blah, blah, blah, blah.

We'll have to wait for the details but I was surprised to even see the word "diesel" in a California budget request.

This suggests how bad things may be in California.