Editor,
What if Laguna Beach became a power utility co-op selling electrical power back to So Cal Edison? A small cooperative headed by Solar City (Elon Musk) on Hawaii has done just that selling renewable power back to the Kauai utility company. Impossible for Laguna you say? It wasn’t impossible for Hawaii.
Our electrical power utility consists of four parts: generation/storage, distribution, consumption and waste.
The Laguna Canyon Road realignment addresses the distribution part of our power utility, but it could also address generation and waste (remember SONGS*) shifting from a petroleum based energy production to renewables. Hawaii is doing just that as this Drive article explains: In 2009, oil powered 91% of KIUC’s generation. By year end, about 37% of KIUC’s capacity will come from renewable resources, broken down as 15% solar, 12% biomass and 9% hydro, with the rest fired by oil.
Who are members of the Utility Undergrounding Working Group and have they addressed undergrounding as a bundle for renewables in the LCR undergrounding recommendations? Anybody know?
This Drive article shows battery/solar installation on Kaui will deliver electrical power projected at 11 cents per killowatt hour ($0.11/kWH).
SoCal Edison shows what I pay per killowatt hour in a three tier structure as follows 10, 16 and 22 cents.
* SCE is burying 1620 metric tons of high level nuclear waste at San Onofre.
Les Miklosy, Laguna Beach
