Electric Green Waste

By Bruce Thompson

Green initiatives are costing hard-pressed Americans billions of dollars in the form of higher utility bills and squandered investment in inefficient electric power generation.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is about to institute the first of four rate increases for electric power planned to take effect within the next year. The increases are expected to increase power costs for businesses by 21% to 22%. Residential customers will see increases ranging from 8.8% to 28.4%.

The money generated by the increase would enable [Los Angeles Mayor] Villaraigosa to carry out a longtime political promise: securing 20% of the DWP’s power from renewable sources, such as solar and wind energy, by Dec. 31.

The political purpose of this is to replace coal fired generation with “green power.” The DWP website has a link to a report detailing its existing generation sources. It has a total of 6,991 MW of “net dependable capability,” of which 1,515 MW is coal-fired and 285 MW is from renewables and distributed generation. Therefore, “going green” would require decommissioning about 21.6% of the existing dependable capability. The question ratepayers ought to be asking is “why?”

Let us examine the largest coal-fired power plant. It is Intermountain Generating Stationoperating report located near Delta, Utah. LADWP’s share of its output is 1,038 MW. The 2009 provides this summary:

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