1 day Ago By Kira Caspers • Times of San Diego
Join the 13,000+ people who get Times of San Diego in their inbox at 8 a.m. every day – plus breaking news alerts.
We’re also adding weekly updates from San Diego neighborhoods soon! Select a location below. By clicking sign up, you agree to the terms . A recently published study by UC San Diego faculty suggests western states could speed up the transition to clean energy and lower costs by coordinating across state lines.
The paper shows how 11 states – including California – can change clean energy infrastructure by 2050. “States that coordinate more closely could save billions – even if the climate policies among the various red and blue states do not align,” said Michael Davidson , co-author of the study and assistant professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering. Electricity in the western U.
S. is managed by multiple utilities, state agencies and smaller regional markets that often work independently. Join the 13,000+ people who get Times of San Diego in their inbox at 8 a.
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By clicking sign up, you agree to the terms . Coordination could include sharing power generation plans with other states, aligning clean energy standards and coordinating where power lines are built. The researchers found that greater coordination among states could save the region up to $3.
25 billion per year in energy system costs. The study, titled “Coordinating power sector climate transition under policy uncertainty,” said even states without climate targets would benefit from coordination by exporting clean energy to neighboring states. Legislators introduced a bill this year that would enable California utilities to participate in a regional electricity market that connects the state with the broader West.
“Regionalization has real political hurdles,” said Davidson. “California would give up some control of its grid. But the data show – it’s worth it.
” A January analysis facilitated by the California Energy Commission estimated that California could save nearly $800 million annually and reduce in-state gas emissions by 31% by participating in a regional market. Some energy officials contend that California has too much power over the region-wide energy system because the California Independent System Operator is governed in part by the state Legislature. Other organizations like the Southwest Power Pool , which services 14 states, are governed by a board that includes power producers and utilities.
The study suggests how well states work together could make the difference between a smooth and affordable energy transition and a drawn-out and expensive one. “The barriers to regional coordination aren’t technical,” Davidson said. “They’re political.
But if we want a cost-effective, resilient clean grid, we’ll need to start breaking them down – now.” The study was published in the journal Nature Communications along with coauthors Fikri Kucuksayacigil, a former postdoctoral researcher at UCSD, and Zhenhua Zhang, a Ph.D.
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