Maxed Out: California’s power grid stressed to the limit

Dear John,

Gov. Newsom's extreme agenda to move California from fossil fuels to electricity supplied by renewable energy sources is on a collision course with reality, experts warned this week. California’s already maxed-out electric grid is nowhere near ready to support the government’s push for electric vehicles and other environmental mandates.

"The California power grid is stressed pretty much to the limit," California Policy Center co-founder and senior fellow Edward Ring said on "The Big Money Show" on Fox Business this week. "Our ability to import energy as well as our ability to generate energy from renewables just isn't there, the storage isn't there or the transmission lines as well."

Ring explained that California would have to build a massive number of wind and solar farms to be able to replace fossil fuels and meet consumer demand. The scale of what is required would devastate California’s landscape.

"They're going to have to build an outrageous amount of wind and solar in a very short time if they want to accomplish their objectives of electrifying our whole transportation sector and all the heating and cooling required by our residential sector," Ring told Fox News Digital in a separate interview earlier this week.

"You need to build seven or eight times as much solar power so that the capacity is sufficient to give you an output that you're going to actually need," Ring said. "And California's power grid consumes, on average, 50 gigawatts of power. If you were going to generate that kind of power with solar energy or with wind, you would be covering literally…tens of thousands of square miles."

CPC senior fellow Edward Ring appears on The Big Money Show.

California’s “plan” includes reducing oil usage by 94% and increasing solar and wind capacity over the next two decades. How the state accomplishes that when building permits and land use fights often take a decade or longer is anyone’s guess.

Ring warns that California consumers will bear a “very heavy” burden when the governor’s green dreams collide with the state’s infrastructure nightmare.

"Even if they can pull it off without blackouts, the burden to the consumer is going to be ridiculous," Ring said. "We already have the most expensive electricity in the country. And if we're going to make any sort of real progress towards achieving California’s objectives, it's going to cost a lot more."

Watch CPC senior fellow Edward Ring on The Big Money Show on Fox Business.

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Barnstorming California on education reform

CPC's Lance Christensen is launching a statewide tour this spring on the future of K-12 education in California. Christensen, CPC's Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs who ran for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2022, is hitting the road for a series of regional townhalls across the state.

"This is not a listening tour, a series of lectures, or gripe sessions," said Christensen. "It’s a large-scale focus group I will actively moderate."

"My intent is to put all options for reform on the table and discuss them vigorously among those who not only care about our children but are also ready to roll up their sleeves and take on the institution that has failed us for far too long," Christensen explained. "I want to invite open dialogue that will allow us to diagnose the problem and engage in a lively exchange on potential changes, improvements and structural reforms necessary to realign our educational priorities and trajectory for a thriving 21st century California."

To learn more about the statewide tour, read Lance's announcement here. If you're interested in hosting an education townhall in your community, please sign up here.

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New Podcast

Radio Free California #264: Even Mormons Won't Answer When California Knocks

On this week's podcast with CPC president Will Swaim and CPC board member David Bahnsen: Utah’s refugee-weary governor says Californians should stay in California. And Representative Katie Porter says Dianne Feinstein’s U.S. Senate seat should go to a black woman — leaving unexplained Porter’s own very white campaign for the seat. Listen now.

Unions are Behind California's Latest Wealth Tax Proposal

Assemblyman Alex Lee (D-San Jose) has introduced Assembly Bill 259, the Wealth Tax Act, which will impose an annual “worldwide net worth” tax of 1 percent on net worth above $50 million, rising to 1.5 percent on net worth over $1.0 billion. Edward Ring explains why everything about this bill is goofy in this week's article.

The Covid Lockdown Distaster: Three Years Later

There has been nothing but awful news about the impact of the unnecessary union-backed shutdown of American schools during the Covid pandemic. Larry Sand examines the latest research assessing the magnitude of student learning deficits and more in his latest article.

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ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER

The California Policy Center promotes prosperity for all Californians through limited government and individual liberty.

Learn more at CaliforniaPolicyCenter.org.

California Policy Center

18002 Irvine Blvd Ste 108

Tustin, CA 92780-3321

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