This paper, which appeared as Chapter 7 in Johnston, Climate Rationality: From Bias to Balance (2021), explains the economic and energy security challenges that arise when large amounts of electric power come from intermittent renewable power sources such as wind and solar. It overviews the structure and regulation of the interstate electricity grid in the U.S. and explains merit order dispatch across alternative power generators. The chapter then turns to explain the challenges to ensuring electric system reliability on a grid with high usage of renewable solar or wind power. It concludes by analyzing the economics of such high renewable usage systems. As shown by experience from California and Germany, the true cost of wind and solar power in such systems includes not only the fixed costs of wind and solar, but a number of other costs. These include the cost of the natural gas – fired power plants that must be maintained as reserve power sources to maintain frequency stability and to provide power when wind and/or solar are unavailable, and the cost of new transmission lines (for wind) and expensive upgrades to transformer stations.
The first principle of insurance reflects the fundamental lesson of the tragic California fires: you can’t get something for nothing. If expected...
The Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law filed this amicus brief on behalf of San Bernardino...
State public utility commissions are at the forefront of the clean-energy transition. These state agencies, which have jurisdiction over energy...
This report identifies transportation-efficient, healthy, high-opportunity areas for housing development. Adding both market-rate and below-market...
On November 5, an anti-environmentalist faction led by and supporting Donald Trump prevailed in the national elections. The policy assaults by Trump &...
Brief filed Oct. 25, 2024 in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, __ S. Ct ___ (2024).
California faces a dire housing crisis. California’s land-use regulatory system remains a key driver of this crisis. State law grants local...
It is commonly assumed that local land use regulations—and especially single-family and other restrictive zoning classifications—limit housing supply...
This casebook emphasizes environmental policy, as well as the structure and details of the federal environmental statutes. It focuses students’...
On Aug. 14, a Montana district court released a groundbreaking decision for climate change activists. In Held v. Montana, the court announced that...
This article discusses the links between climate and debt sustainability by focusing on how climate mitigation and adaptation are paid for, and who...
Environmentalists are frustrated that President Joe Biden agreed to greenlight the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, or MVP, as part of the...
Brief Filed June 17 2022 in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, 598 U.S. 651 (2023).
San Francisco’s planning practice and process problems spring from local law that applies discretionary review to any permit and offers repeated...
On May 25, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court dropped an absolute bombshell with its ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. Early assessments...
The Supreme Court’s new term begins on the first Monday of October. But before delving into the most important environmental case yet to be heard, it...