Lessons from Stanford: Get a Generator

As Santayana is credited with saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”   So let's learn from Stanford's "100% Green energy" experiment and the impact the nearby Emerald Hills fire has had on the campus.  With new construction happening all over Buildingame that must be all-electric because we have a "reach code", Santayana is in play here.  The bottom line is many B'gamers will be reaching for back-up generators.  The Chronicle is chronicling the mess down on the Farm:

In normal times, Stanford powers its campus with 100% renewable energy — a milestone it achieved this year. Most of it is solar power.  But only a small portion of the solar — less than 10%, according to Stanford civil and environmental engineering Professor Mark Jacobson — is on campus, on building roofs. The rest comes from two massive solar plants in Kern and Kings counties.  Because the power is not produced right on campus, Stanford relies on the state power grid to transport the electricity.

Stanford has been able to turn on some power. It’s using a few hundred diesel generators for key services, Jacobson said.

Wow.  I bet every Home Depot in the Bay Area is sold out of Hondas and Generacs.  That has to be really good for the environment, but there's more

Fixing a transmission line is “delicate work,” noted Michael Wara, an energy expert with Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment. “The standards are very precise for how things have to be done, so it takes time.”  Wara said he would have been even more concerned had damage to the PG&E substation on the edge of the fire occurred, since substation parts can be hard to replace.

Translation:  If a substation is badly damaged, expect it to be down for weeks to months.  But how will we get the horse back in front of the cart?

Wara said that the era of wildfires shows the importance of new thinking about the grid — especially how to get power to somewhere via multiple routes, and also self-sufficiency, though that can be expensive.  Jacobson said that the prolonged outage shows the need for more batteries to store power — and microgrids that can stay powered using the batteries when the main grid is not functioning.

This week Elon Musk was blunt about Tesla's battery problems as they transition from the 2170 lithium-ion battery cells to the new 4680 cells and different packaging.  That is with billions of dollars per month on the line, so don't expect the less-in-demand microgrid batteries to be fast-tracked through design, manufacture, deployment to utilities and finally energized.  I figure we are on at least a ten-year forced march through unreliable grid performance; if PG&E doesn't go bankrupt first.  But at least the Stanford students got a stipend

“Emergency Funds available! Resident students who have been impacted by the power outage may apply for support,” a tweet from Stanford’s vice provost for graduate education said. “$100 stipends will be provided to help with expenses related to food spoilage and eating out.”

Who will issue the B'gamers' stipends?  Those of us with grandfathered gas ranges and barbeques can cook the meat and seafood before it spoils.  C'mon over.

7/3  Update:  Who'd a thunk it?  The Examiner accepted an advertisement for a stinky, polluting, global warming generator.  You get a 7 year warranty by which time they will be illegal.

Comments

[Joe]

This letter writer nailed it in the DJ:

Editor,

The enduring electricity outage at the Stanford campus may be a warning to many governmental agencies that green energy still depends on another infrastructure, aka the transmission grid.

It is ironic that Stanford decided about 10 years ago to abandon its cogeneration plant which had made the campus an off-the-grid, independent electricity supplier. The green crowd moved in and, against all advice from more knowledgeable folks, a new energy director, who pushed for an ambitious green policy, prevailed.

As with the supplies of our own Peninsula Clean Energy, Stanford’s electricity now comes from far away solar plants. During my tenure at the University of California system, which operates several reliable cogeneration plants, we decided not to follow in Stanford’s footsteps and we continued to utilize a hybrid supply solution that does not rely, for the most part, on imported green energy.

Think of the pollution now generated by the multitudes of diesel generators fouling the air at Stanford. That could be the plight of the electric supply on the Peninsula as well. If even a famous institution such as Stanford turns out to be vulnerable, what can other well-meaning amateurs that have entered the market do to assure us that their supplies are reliable?

Dirk van Ulden
Belmont

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/the-achilles-heel-of-electric-supplies/article_2effd732-f764-11ec-863b-ff76e0aeced0.html

You just gotta love the phrase "well-meaning amateurs".

[Jennifer Pfaff]

Go Bears!

[Everything's Jake]

At least Natural Gas is now seriously being considered to supplement the energy needs of Europe. Maybe the Game city council will finally understand the benefits of such energy, as in, it's clean and abundant!

[Paloma Ave]

I too wish the Burlingame City Council hadn't decided to ban a LEGAL commodity, in the name of progressive politics.

We just need one more person with common sense to overturn that poor and misguided choice.

Anyone out there, with common sense, willing to run for council? (And not use it as a stepping-stone to higher office.)

[Joe]

I received a Public Notice from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District yesterday which is required because I live within 1,000 feet of a location that the BAAQM district has received a permit application for a new or modified source(s) of toxic air contaminants.

What might that be? It turns out "The Village at Burlingame" - the soon-to-arrive mixed use building that is hulking up at 150 Park Rd. wants a back-up diesel generator! No natural gas in town, but diesel is apparently OK. Who knew? Why not a bank of Tesla Powerwalls? Wouldn't that be healthier for all involved?

[Joe]

Calmatters.org sent out an update on our grid today:

Starting today and lasting through Thursday, generators and transmission-line operators should delay any scheduled maintenance to avoid possible power outages as Californians crank up their air conditioners to deal with an expected onslaught of 100-plus degree heat, the state’s electric grid operator said Friday.

The California Independent System Operator’s warning came on the heels of draft legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office unveiled late Thursday to extend the life of Diablo Canyon, the state’s last nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo, by as much as 10 years — and give its operator, PG&E, a forgivable loan of as much as $1.4 billion to do so.

Taken together, the two actions underscore the extent to which California is at risk of repeating the events of 2020, when the state was unable to supply enough energy to meet demand, triggering the first rolling blackouts in nearly two decades.
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It looks like this was news to PG&E who are in my neighborhood doing a big maintenance job that involved closing a street......

[Phinancier]

Daily Post today. City moving to electric homes.

New rules are being gradually phased in.

By Jan. 1 homeowners must buy new water heaters with heat pumps, not natural gas, when they replace the appliance as part of an add-on or remodel.

New gas hook-ups would be banned for outdoor equipment and new granny units would have to be all-electric.

Electric appliances would also be required for new offices, stores and restaurants.

By 2030, Palo Alto is aiming to have 95% of water heaters and 70% of space heaters be electric.

Upgrading the grid to handle a bigger load would cost between $30-$75 million.

The city would have to take out 124 miles of decommissioned gas lines which would cost another $11 million to $54 million over 10 years.

Utilities workers would spend up to 801,166 hours on the electrical upgrade and gas disconnection.

[Paloma Ave]

Woke politics leading the way.

Reminds me of ancient times. When an army was defeated, the captured armies completely blinded 9 out of 10 soldiers. The 10th soldier was only blinded in one eye. Then they were sent home.

This reminds me of most of our current politicians in the State of California!