LOS ANGELES _ California energy officials are rethinking plans to build expensive natural gas power plants in the face of an electricity glut and growing use of cleaner and cheaper energy alternatives.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has put a hold on a $2.2 billion plan to rebuild old natural gas power plants while it studies clean energy alternatives to meet electricity demands.
The decision announced Tuesday follows a Los Angeles Times investigation that showed the state is operating with an oversupply of electricity, driven largely by the construction of gas-fueled generating plants. The report found that the state's power plants are on track to be able to produce at least 21 percent more electricity than needed by 2020.
Californians, meanwhile, are footing a $40 billion annual bill while using less electricity, paying $6.8 billion more than they did in 2008 when power use in the state was at its all-time high. Electricity consumption has since fallen and remained largely flat.
DWP's decision highlights the dramatic changes that the nation's electricity system is undergoing with the rapid growth of solar and wind power as well as ways to store electricity.
Where utilities once delivered all electrical services from huge power plants along miles of transmission lines, the industry now must consider power delivered to the electric grid not only from its own sources, but from solar systems and batteries at homes and businesses.
DWP isn't alone in reassessing plans for fossil fuel plants.
The California Energy Commission this week is evaluating whether to halt a natural gas project in Ventura County after the state's electric grid operator offered to conduct a study of clean energy alternatives to the roughly $250 million project on Mandalay Bay in Oxnard.
An energy commission committee has been deliberating since a hearing Monday during which Southern California Edison and the project's developer, NRG Energy, argued that a study is simply a delay tactic that would likely kill a project needed to ensure reliable electric service.
The DWP and energy commission moves involve as many as seven natural gas plant projects proposed for Southern California, from Oxnard to Carlsbad, at a cost of more than $6 billion.
Reiko Kerr, DWP's senior assistant general manager of power systems, said given the changes in the energy world, the assessment is necessary to protect ratepayer dollars and the environment.
"The whole utility paradigm has shifted," Kerr said in an interview. "We really are doing our ratepayers a disservice by not considering all viable options.
"We're just looking at everything," she said. "What can help us solve this reliability, renewable and greenhouse gas challenge that we all have?"
State and local governments have felt a heightened sense of urgency to deal with climate change after President Donald Trump decided last week to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord.
California already has mandated that at least 50 percent of the state's electricity come from clean energy sources by 2030. Senate leader Kevin de Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles, wants to increase that to 100 percent by 2045.
Building or overhauling natural gas plants throughout Southern California, environmentalists argue, isn't helping achieve those goals.
The DWP's move to delay plans for the fossil fuel plants, which seemed all but set to be built, came as a surprise to clean-energy advocates, who hailed the decision.
"This is a great first step toward smart energy investments that save customers money, ensure the lights stay on and protect our health and environment," said Graciela Geyer of the Sierra Club.
The environmental group said that if the utility had moved ahead with the $2.2 billion investment in repowering natural gas plants, it "would have blown an irreparable hole in the city and the state's hopes to achieve 100 percent generation" from clean energy sources.
Angela Johnson Meszaros, attorney at EarthJustice, said in a statement: "As our city struggles with the worst smog we've seen in years, we appreciate that LADWP is taking some much-needed time to reassess its plans to build fossil fuel power plants. We look forward to the day that LADWP announces that we are going to power our city with 100 percent clean energy."
The gas-fired generating units slated for demolition and rebuilding are located at the Scattergood, Haynes and Harbor electricity plants, which range from 34 to 67 years old.
As a group, the three plants have generated less than 20 percent of their combined capacity since 2001. The Harbor facility has operated on the low end at just 7 percent, while Haynes ran on the high end at 22 percent.
"The old model, the old legacy clunkers won't get us into the future we want," DWP's Kerr said.
DWP staff members told the utility's' commissioners Tuesday that their analysis of possible alternatives would be completed no later than early 2018.
The California Independent System Operator, which runs the state's electric grid, told the energy commission Monday that it would take three to four weeks to conduct its study on alternatives to the Oxnard natural gas project.
"Here we have an actual offer by the ISO to do such an analysis," Ellison Folk, a lawyer representing the city of Oxnard, told the energy commission as she pushed for the study. "Its view that this is an analysis worth doing is something worth taking seriously."
Energy commission members reviewing the study proposal are scheduled to meet again Thursday to consider the offer.
The board of governors for the California Independent System Operator made the unusual offer at its May 1 meeting to conduct an eleventh-hour study of clean-energy alternatives to building a new natural gas plant.
"If we're going to be moving forward with a gas plant at this time, in this juncture, in the context of everything that's going on, not evaluating other alternatives that are viable, noncombustion alternatives, is a missed opportunity," Angelina Galetiva, a commission board member, said during the May 1 meeting.
