California, Canada are teaming up to fight climate change — again

Sammy Roth

The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun

The Palm Springs Windmill Tours in Palm Springs, Calif., in January 2016. The Energy Imbalance Market has allowed solar and wind farms across the West to boost production, displacing planet-warming fossil fuels.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — As President Trump dithers on the fate of the Paris climate deal, California and other western states are banding together to reduce carbon emissions and save hundreds of millions of dollars — and now a Canadian province will join them.

British Columbia's main electric utility said Tuesday it will join the Energy Imbalance Market, a California-led program that makes it easier for utilities to trade electricity across state lines. The energy-sharing program has allowed solar and wind farms across the West to boost production, displacing planet-warming fossil fuels. The initiative also has saved western utility customers $174 million since 2014, according to the California Independent System Operator, which runs the imbalance market.

Powerex Corp. — the energy marketing subsidiary of BC Hydro, Canada's third-largest utility — will officially join the imbalance market in April 2018, becoming the first non-American power provider to participate. It may not be the last. Mexico's grid operator, CENACE, has been exploring whether its Baja California Norte region should join, too.

BC Hydro operates 31 hydroelectric power plants, which could help California and other western states bring more solar and wind power online. Those hydropower plants can act like a battery, absorbing electricity from solar and wind farms when supply exceeds demand, and pumping that climate-friendly energy back onto the grid when it's needed.

Right now, California utilities rely on climate-polluting natural gas to support renewable energy, firing up gas plants when solar farms shut down in the evening. BC Hydro joining the imbalance market won't solve that problem — far from it — but its hydro plants could help California save a little more afternoon solar power for use at night.

"I get my inspiration from Germany," said Stephen Berberich, president of the California Independent System Operator. "I watch how they're operating with Norway in particular, and using that Norway hydro fleet to help Germany integrate their renewables."

As Trump goes one way, the West goes another

The western energy-sharing program isn't the first time California and Canada have worked together to fight climate change. Since 2014, the Canadian province of Quebec has participated in the Golden State's cap-and-trade system, a market-based program that forces climate polluters to pay for their emissions. Ontario joined earlier this year, and has been selling pollution permits at joint auctions with California and Quebec.

Large stacks fill the sky with steam at PacifiCorp's Jim Bridger coal plant in southwestern Wyoming on Dec. 7, 2016.

As the California grid operator announced its partnership with BC Hydro on Tuesday, Trump still hadn't taken a position on the Paris climate accord, the historic agreement struck by nearly 200 countries in 2015. The president promised on the campaign trail to "cancel" the international climate deal, but so far he's delayed a decision on whether to leave or remain.

As reports swirled Wednesday that Trump would announce the U.S.' withdrawal from the accord, he tweeted he would be announcing his decision about the treaty "over the next few days."

Whatever Trump decides on Paris, his administration is already undermining U.S. efforts to fight climate change. Scott Pruitt, who leads the Environmental Protection Agency, is working to kill the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which would reduce planet-warming emissions from power plants. And the budget proposal released by the White House last week would decimate spending on clean energy research and climate science.

California has geared up to battle Trump on climate change, hiring lawyers to fight an expected rollback of vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and working directly with officials in China, Canada, Mexico and other countries on climate agreements.

But Carl Zichella, director of western transmission for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the expansion of the energy-sharing program to British Columbia is more than just another instance of environmentally minded California flexing its climate muscle.

The Energy Imbalance Market is led by California, but it now includes utilities operating in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming — a diverse group of states whose politics range from deep blue to deep red. As solar and wind get cheaper and utilities choose not to invest in new coal plants, all those states are seeing the benefits of working together to share clean electricity, Zichella said.

"It’s a sign of the irreversibility of the trend away from coal," he said.

For Californians, $52 million in savings

The Energy Imbalance Market is run by the California Independent System Operator, the non-profit corporation that oversees 80% of the state's power grid. The energy-sharing program allows out-of-state utilities to participate in California's real-time market, where they can buy electricity to meet last-minute gaps between supply and demand.

The imbalance market has been a boon for solar and wind farms, which unlike fossil-fueled power plants don't have much control over when they generate electricity.

The program has averted 176,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions since it got started in 2014, by the California grid operator's estimate — equivalent to taking more than 37,000 cars off the road for a year.

Solar panels tilt upward to track the sun's movement through the sky at NextEra's 250-megawatt McCoy solar project in eastern Riverside County, Calif., on Nov. 10, 2016.

The imbalance market also has saved money, helping utilities avoid electricity rate increases, at least in theory. So far the biggest winner has been Warren Buffett's PacifiCorp utility, which has saved nearly $88 million, by the California grid operator's estimates. California utilities have saved $52 million, with smaller savings accruing to NV Energy, Arizona Public Service and Puget Sound Energy.

"It's delivering on its promises. If anything, it's exceeded expectation," Zichella said.

By unifying the western power grid, the grid operator estimates it can save Californians $1.5 billion per year by 2030, while reducing regional carbon emissions between 3% and 4%. But the plan is controversial, because it would involve California giving up sole control of its power grid, and letting deep-red states like Utah and Wyoming have a say. Some environmentalists, and top lawmakers, are worried those states would force California to accept electricity from their polluting fleet of coal-fired power plants.

Trump has exacerbated those fears. California Gov. Jerry Brown's western grid plan would require approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which should soon be controlled by Trump appointees. Critics say FERC could use that process to undermine California's climate policies, forcing the state to import dirty power from other parts of the West.

"I just can't imagine there are any Democratic votes in Sacramento for giving the Trump administration more control over California energy policy," said Marc Joseph, a labor union attorney who has forcefully opposed Brown's grid expansion plan.

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