Green energy hits the red light in Petaluma thanks to a group of anti-battery storage facilities

“We need a highway exit to climate hell. And the truth is that we have control of the wheel.” –UN Secretary-General António Guterres

In a speech on World Environment Day on June 5, UN Secretary-General António Guterres implored governments around the world to adopt more aggressive policies to curb the continued burning of fossil fuels, which has pushed global temperatures to historic highs and dramatically changed the world’s climate, causing increasingly deadly weather phenomena.

If we do not act soon to rigorously reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Guterres and scientists warn us, the Earth’s climate is projected to worsen exponentially, with serious consequences for global food security, natural resources, international peace and stability, and very survival. our planet. species.

It is the harsh reality of climate-driven megafires, multi-year droughts, floods and other extreme weather events that has led California government leaders to set a goal of eliminating fossil fuel power plants and achieving a 100% carbon neutral electric grid by 2045 by many new solar and wind projects across the state. Last year, such renewable energy sources provided a record 54% of California’s total electricity generation, with the rest generated by natural gas-fired power plants.

However, the transition to a 100% clean energy electric grid can only happen with the simultaneous construction of many new battery energy storage systems (BESS) across the state. Since solar energy is only produced during the day, BESS installations are necessary to capture and store excess solar energy during the day to return it to electricity consumers at night. Although lithium-ion batteries have long been used in consumer electronics such as cell phones and laptops, large-scale energy storage systems safely and economically power the electric grid in many California cities and counties during night hours when solar power is unavailable.

In addition to offering customers clean, renewable energy, such battery systems increase the reliability of the local grid, reduce dependence on high-voltage transmission lines and help avoid public power outages that regularly threaten electricity customers during high winds in the summer and fall.

Earlier this year, California scored a huge victory in meeting its clean energy goal when the state’s total installed capacity exceeded 10,000 megawatts (MW) of battery capacity. One day in April, battery levels exceeded 6,000 MW for the first time in history, making them the largest source of power to the state’s power grid at one point in the day.

It was a commendable milestone. But with the state projected to need 52,000 MW (a five-fold increase) of battery capacity by 2045 to create a zero-emissions electric grid, California lawmakers must look at new ways to streamline the process of commissioning and building energy storage systems. This began to arouse opposition from small groups fueled by ignorance, distrust of government institutions, disinformation and fear of technology.

One such group, calling itself Citizens for Battery Transparency, showed up in Petaluma last year and was successful in indefinitely delaying the development of battery storage in Sonoma County.

Here’s how. In 2021, two battery storage projects are proposed along North Bay’s largest high-voltage electrical substation on the southeastern edge of Petaluma, near the intersection of Frates and Adobe roads. The first, proposed by Strata Clean Energy, would be located immediately adjacent to a PG&E substation on 15 acres of the former Petaluma Adobe Creek Golf Club. The second facility, Borealis Energy Storage, would be located on a 17-acre site of the former Green String Farm across the street from the substation.

Last summer, as both project proposals slowly but surely made their way through the county’s long and grueling permitting process that included numerous safety reviews and environmental studies, leaders of the Citizens for Battery Transparency initiative began making wildly alarmist claims, without evidence, that a “major disaster” could occur if the projects were implemented. The group stridently and irrationally demanded that both projects be subjected to a cumbersome and time-consuming Environmental Impact Report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Facing the very real prospect of a lawsuit and likely years of litigation and uncertainty, both project proponents complied. The clock has been reset, and the years-long permit approval process, which now involves a number of new, duplicative or unnecessary studies such as traffic analysis, has added another 12 to 18 months – even though no one is shopping at battery warehouses.

Never mind that most battery installations built in California in recent years did not require a full EIR, and some were deemed completely exempt from CEQA because their overall environmental impact was minimal.

California can and should do better. For starters, the state Legislature could significantly accelerate reductions in state greenhouse gas emissions by voting to exempt safely designed battery storage facilities from CEQA review altogether. Such exceptions apply to important affordable housing projects. They are also earmarked for priority transit investments. The legislature even exempted many large sports venues across the state. So why don’t we turn off extremely important green energy projects?

If forward-thinking California, the world’s fifth-largest economy, cannot meaningfully join the UN’s call to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to save our planet, how can we expect other states or countries to follow our example?

Sonoma County residents deserve better than waiting forever for a reliable electric grid. When hot winds blow this summer and we remember the numerous deadly fires caused by power lines tearing into nearby vegetation, the electricity is turned off for our safety.

And as darkness falls each night and we are forced to rely on electricity generated by carbon-intensive natural gas-fired power plants in the East Bay, we wonder how many more years we will have to wait to ensure safe battery energy storage systems power communities elsewhere parts of the state.

If you share these concerns, please consider contacting your state assemblyman or state senator.

John Burns is the former editor of the Petaluma Argus-Courier. He can be contacted at [email protected].