Feature
Our Sustainable Energy Future
A Green Alternative to the Sunrise Powerlink
by Elyssa Paige
In the beauty of nature, our connection to all living things is clear. Life can be so simple amidst the trees and the flowers.
But return to the hustle and bustle of city life—the whizzing and whirring of all our technological advances—and things get a little more complicated.
All of the conveniences that our civilization has brought us, from lights to laptops, require energy.
With global warming as the latest hot button in the media, we are starting to think more about where all this energy is coming from and how it impacts the earth.
Most Americans agree that our dependence on foreign energy resources is not a good thing, for several reasons. Because oil is fossil fuel-derived, these energy sources are finite, polluting, and generally come from politically unstable areas of the world.
Many people are moving toward change by increasing their energy efficiency with such actions as switching from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs, turning the lights off when they’re not in use, and purchasing energy efficient appliances.
These steps surely push us in the right direction, but we need to go beyond individual choices and get to the heart of the matter. It’s time to become energy self-sufficient by generating our power from local and renewable sources.
In San Diego County, we are at an energy crossroads. One direction we could take is to build the Sunrise Powerlink, a 150-mile transmission line which would stretch from a power substation in Imperial Valley, through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and over to the northern parts of San Diego County.
Of course, the major opposition to the power lines is the fact that it would require cutting through pristine desert landscape. The largest state park in California, Anza-Borrego has over 600,000 acres of wilderness and hiking trails. Drive along 500 miles of dirt road and you will experience mountains, canyons, washes, palm groves, and cacti. In early spring, wildflowers of every imaginable color miraculously sprout from land that’s baked beneath the desert sun. Wildlife is abound; Anza-Borrego is the home to golden eagles, roadrunners, kit foxes, mule deer, iguanas, chuckwallas, red diamond rattlesnakes, and of course, the bighorn sheep, or in Spanish, borrego, as honored by the park’s name.
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), the utility company proposing the Sunrise Powerlink, maintains that the power lines are necessary for reaching clean energy mandates set by the state of California which require that we use 20 percent renewable energy sources by the year 2010. They say that the Sunrise Powerlink will transmit solar, geothermal, and wind power from eastern San Diego County and the deserts of Imperial Valley. In an apparent effort to get the ball rolling, SDG&E has signed a contract with Stirling Energy Systems, promising to build 36,000 solar dishes which could provide up to 900 megawatts of clean energy to San Diego.
But what if we didn’t have to build huge solar farms in the desert? What if we could harness the sun’s infinite energy right here in our urban center?
Bill Powers, engineer and author of San Diego Smart Energy 2020: The 21st Century Alternative believes we can do just that—with a strategic plan which emphasizes the installation of over 2000 megawatts of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on commercial rooftops, parking lots, and homes. The report’s primary goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generation by 50 percent by the year 2020.
“We can get solar power right here where we use it,” says Powers. “San Diego County has nearly 5000 megawatts of commercial building and parking lot PV potential. We have a long way to go before we exhaust [these] prospects.”
Incentives are available to invest in solar power right now. The California Solar Initiative (CSI) provides substantial rebates on PV systems to homes and businesses, as well as to government and non-profit entities. Combine that with additional federal tax credits and in 12.5 years, a typical solar system pays for itself.
These incentives work well for individuals, but Bill Powers’ plan calls for large-scale solar installations. So who’s going to pay for it all?
The answer requires a new infrastructure which rewards utility companies for promoting conservation and green energy choices. San Diego Smart Energy 2020 outlines an incentive structure similar to CSI which actually makes solar power cheaper than conventional power purchased directly from the utility. That’s what will prompt third party companies to come in and make the investment.
Bill Powers explains: “The third party comes in and gives me a simple contract which says that it’s their responsibility to buy the panels, put them in, and pay off the system. All I do is pay for the power they produce.”
It’s a cost effective system and more importantly, it’s secure, in that solar energy is proven to work. But how far will it get us when the sun goes down? Solar power begins to taper off at 2 p.m., but we generally continue to use power at high rates until 6 p.m.
Batteries can surely play a part in the reliability of PV solar systems as a backup power source. Most of the batteries being used on solar panels today are actually golf cart batteries which last five to six years. Since the average PV system lasts 20 years, those batteries clearly require periodic replacing. The good news is that they cost approximately 3 percent of the system price. The better news is that highly efficient batteries are currently in development and will soon dominate the field.
In the meantime, we need a solid plan in place for ensuring that we get power at all hours of the day, rain or shine. Powers’ smart energy report addresses this need with the inclusion of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems, which are small, local, natural gas-fired power plants.
“These systems generate less CO2 per unit of power than a conventional power plant,” says Powers. “Yes, they put out natural gas, but they emit less CO2 than what we are using now. And they’re efficient; the heat that comes off of the equipment is recovered to produce hot water and even air conditioning.”
It’s not ideal, but we can do it right now. It’s essential to provide this transitional step, because it’s not feasible to go from conventional power to solar in one giant swoop. If we are going to find an alternative to the Sunrise Powerlink, it has to be secure in providing power 100 percent of the time.
But how much power do we really need? One of the main supporting arguments for the Sunrise Powerlink is that it will supply the rising demand for energy caused by population growth.
That is indeed a possibility, but it disregards one simple fact: we are the consumers and that means we control the demand. Consider that during an August 2007 heat wave, Californians saved 1000 megawatts of energy through simple conservation—the same amount of energy that the Sunrise Powerlink promises to deliver.
Emergency measures are one thing. Conservation needs to become a part of everyday life. According to Bill Powers, we can actually drop our energy demands significantly so that in 2020 we’ll need less energy in San Diego than we do in 2008. San Diego Smart Energy 2020 outlines actions from high efficiency air conditioners to improved insulation and green landscaping to realistically bring down our power needs so that we do not require the Sunrise Powerlink at all.
Even though the proposed plan for the Sunrise Powerlink includes solar power ambitions, as stated earlier, there is a high probability that SDG&E’s energy contract with Stirling Systems may not come to fruition. Powers points out that “the well known Achilles heel of renewable energy contracts is the high number of contract failures.” If that contract indeed fails, the likely alternative will, not surprisingly, be based in fossil fuels.
Powers sums up the facts: “SDG&E’s parent company, Sempra Energy, owns a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline in Baja California, Mexico. That pipeline connects a LNG import terminal currently being built near Ensanada to existing power plants in Mexico [located a hop, skip and a jump across the border from the Imperial Valley Substation, which is the starting point of the Sunrise Powerlink.]
Building additional power lines to connect those plants in Mexico to the substation in Imperial Valley wouldn’t be difficult if the Sunrise Powerlink is already built. According to a map on the Sierra Club’s Smart Energy Solutions Campaign’s website, there even exists the possibility for future power lines to connect the Sunrise Powerlink to Los Angeles, which would complete a fossil fuel corridor from Mexico and beyond to various exporting countries.
It’s not a pretty picture, but let’s remember that it’s a possibility, and not a certainty. There is a choice before us now and it’s up to the people to rise up. This is about communities coming together to make their voices heard and really, to control the energy market.
And it’s already starting to happen. On May 12, 2008, 650 community members packed a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) public hearing in Borrego Springs. The CPUC will make the final decision on the Sunrise Powerlink and the energy future of San Diego. Four of the five CPUC commissioners attended the recent hearing, which is an unprecedented level of commissioner participation at this stage in the proceedings.
One by one, community members stood up to oppose the Sunrise Powerlink and outnumbered supporters by an astounding eight to one. An 88-year old member of the Kumeyaay tribe, native to the land which the power lines are proposed to cross, spoke first in her native tongue and then in English: “This our home. It is all we have. Do not destroy it. Father Sun can provide for us.”
The solution is before us now. Our economy has been driven by short-term profits, but that is changing. Our consciousness is evolving to include the good of the whole, and not just the good of one person or company.
San Diego Smart Energy 2020 is taking the lead to decrease our reliance on imported fossil fuels and increase our energy security by creating and distributing our power locally. It’s a green alternative in keeping Anza-Borrego State Park vast and untouched by protecting the park’s wildlife, plants, water, soil, and cultural and historical resources for future generations to enjoy.
This is a call to action. Start now and write a letter to the California governor asking him to consider large-scale urban PV systems as an alternative to the Sunrise Powerlink. Conserve now and bring down the energy demand. Let’s reclaim our power as consumers and reignite our connection to the earth and each other.
For more information on alternatives to the Sunrise Powerlink and how you can be a part of the solution, visit www.sdsmartenergy.org. You can send a letter to the governor directly from this site. Or send a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission at public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov. Bill Powers can be reached at 619.295.2072 or at bpowers@powersengineering.com. Contact Elyssa Paige at elyssa@visionmagazine.com.