Diablo Canyon: Not Fit for a 21st Century Grid

Navigate this toolkit:

Summary Talking Points:

Actions to Take Now:

Call your California Legislators and Governor Newsom

Send an Email to your California Legislators and Governor Newsom!

Use Social Media!

Let Your Friends Know

Post on Facebook

Write a letter to the editor

Contact Info for Bay Area State Senators

Contact Info for Bay Area Assemblymembers

Summary Talking Points:

• SB 846 is a rushed bill, and includes a sneak attack on solar power

• A last-minute bill on a complex issue makes no sense
• The bill includes a new non-bypassable charge on gross energy consumption - a direct attack on solar and battery storage, a provision that PG&E has been tryingto jam through to stop rooftop solar for several years
• California needs rooftop solar and storage to meet its climate goals and energy needs

• We don’t need Diablo Canyon to keep the lights on, and the extension undermines this goal:

• Battery storage, already up 20x from 2 years ago, is fast to implement, responsive, and cost competitive. EVs, batteries on wheels, have 5,000 MW instantaneous load potential today, about twice the capacity of Diablo Canyon (2250 MwH, 16Gwh annual output). Instead of doubling down on batteries, the proposal includes a tax on distributed solar and battery storage to pay for keeping Diablo afloat, undermining our state's climate action and resilience goals.
• Demand response: With 219,000 households participating (out of 13 million), OhmConnect is already delivering 200 MW of available capacity, capable of shaving over 1 GWh of demand response during key peak periods. Other renewable leaders are getting in on the action and are working on Virtual Power Plant strategies: EV batteries + solar + storage = a virtual power plant. The sneak tax on solar and storage will undermine the development of smarter approaches.
• What’s at issue is an estimated gap of 1,800 MW during extreme peak events. When OhmConnect can deliver 200 MW with less than 2% of households participating, it’s not hard to imagine increasing that contribution by 5 times by increasing the outreach and participation compensation.
• Contrary to what PG&E is pitching, Diablo Canyon is wildly unreliable: In 2021 the facility was down 142 days for planned or unplanned outages, and 153 days in 2020. (Source: Legislative Hearing August 25, 2022)

• There are much better ways to spend Billions of dollars. It will cost billions to keep Diablo Canyon online. Between $1 and $5 Billion has already been spent to start the decommissioning process. And PG&E estimates that it will cost about $1.5 Billion per year to keep Diablo Canyon in service. This does not include additional Billions for earthquake retrofitting and other costs, which will fall heavily onto all ratepayers through taxes on solar, battery storage, and local Community Choice Energy customers.
• We should take the time to conduct an up-to-date analysis, and build out our resources: Unit 1 is scheduled to close in November of 2024, and unit 2 in August of 2025, per Power magazine.
• Nuclear is far more brittle than we think, especially in this new climate, and losing big chunks of inflexible power is a disaster. Far from stabilizing the grid, Diablo Canyon reduces the power available during peak times because system operators need to reserve power sources in case the facility has to shut down. Hot weather increases demand for electricity, and can cause problems with nuclear plant cooling systems. Yikes.
• Diablo Canyon was useless in the 2020 outages because CAISO had to hold large reserves to guard against the possibility that Diablo Canyon would fail, which forced the blackouts.  Investing in batteries and demand flexibility provides flexible, rapidly responsive, modular power, instead of one large inflexible nuclear plant.
• The baseload power concept is outdated, a mismatch for cheaper and cleaner energy generation, and creates a more difficult-to-manage system. Big chunks of inflexible power do not fix challenges created by usage peaks, which are much better addressed by storage and shifting demand.

Actions to Take Now:

Call your California Legislators and Governor Newsom

Sample Script:

This is ___ from ___. It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars on extending Diablo Canyon when investments in battery storage and demand response will result in a much more resilient and affordable grid. Please do not support SB 846.

• Find your Senator and Assemblymember here.

• Scroll down for contact information.

• Call the Governor: (916) 445-2841.

Send an Email to your California Legislators and Governor Newsom! 

Here’s a sample email. Feel free to adapt.

Subject: No on SB 846: We need flexible renewable energy, demand response, & storage, not expensive Diablo Canyon

Dear __,

A lot of work went into the decision to shut down Diablo Canyon: deep cost-benefit analysis and detailed planning. Let’s stick with that, and with a fast path to clean, reliable energy.

SB 846 was pulled together in a rush and includes sneaky provisions that will slow the growth of rooftop solar and storage, which are critical for reaching California’s climate goals.

Baseload power creates a mismatch for cheaper, cleaner wind and solar energy, and a more difficult-to-manage system. Big chunks of inflexible power do not address peak usage problems, which are better addressed by responsive storage and shifting demand.

Nuclear is a brittle source of power, especially in hot weather, and losing big chunks of inflexible power is a disaster. Far from stabilizing the grid, Diablo Canyon reduces the power available during peak times because system operators need to reserve power sources in case the facility has to shut down. It will cost taxpayers and ratepayers BILLIONS to keep Diablo Canyon online.

These billions of dollars are far better spent on 21st century technologies.

Thank you,

Name, city

• Find your Senator and Assemblymember here.

• Scroll down for contact information.

• Email the Governor 

Use Social Media!

No on #SB846: Extending Diablo Canyon *won’t solve the problem, *will cost $Billions. We need a safe, reliable, affordable grid, not another PGE money grab. @GavinNewsom Learn more: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZ8zgKsGXGiXSFRyGZ_YD4jFNEvS_S5twpfzfgR-N9M

No on #SB846: the bill to extend the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant was put together in a rush & includes a sneak attack on rooftop solar & storage, technologies *actually* critical for an affordable, reliable 21st century grid. Let's call our reps! For more: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZ8zgKsGXGiXSFRyGZ_YD4jFNEvS_S5twpfzfgR-N9M

Let Your Friends Know

Hi Friend!

Did you know that our Sacramento legislators are going to be voting on a bill to extend the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant? Senate Bill 846 is a rushed bill that would overturn the decision to shut down Diablo Canyon. A lot of work went into the decision to shut down this nuclear plant: deep cost-benefit analysis and detailed planning. Let’s stick with that, and with a fast path to clean, reliable energy.

Baseload power creates a mismatch for cheaper, cleaner wind and solar energy, and a more difficult-to-manage system. Big chunks of inflexible power do not address peak usage problems, which are better addressed by responsive storage and shifting demand.

Nuclear is a brittle source of power, especially in hot weather, and losing big chunks of inflexible power is a disaster. Far from stabilizing the grid, Diablo Canyon reduces the power available during peak times because system operators need to reserve power sources in case the facility has to shut down. In both 2020 and 2021, Diablo Canyon was offline almost 40% of the time - more than 140 days in each of those years.

It will cost taxpayers and ratepayers BILLIONS to keep Diablo Canyon online. That money could be spent on increasing battery storage that greatly improves the reliability of our electric system, and on demand reduction programs like OhmConnect, already successfully shifting demand away from key peak time periods. If we’re going to spend billions of dollars, let's spend it on 21st century technologies that provide affordable, clean, reliable, and resilient power.

Your friend in the sun,

xx

Post on Facebook

Did you know that our Sacramento legislators are going to be voting on a bill to extend the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant? SB 846 is a rushed bill that would overturn the decision to shut down Diablo Canyon. A lot of work went into the decision to shut down this nuclear plant: deep cost-benefit analysis and detailed planning. Let’s stick with that, and with a fast path to clean, reliable energy.

Baseload power creates a mismatch for cheaper, cleaner wind and solar energy, and a more difficult-to-manage system. Big chunks of inflexible power do not address peak usage problems, which are better addressed by responsive storage and shifting demand.

Nuclear is a brittle source of power, especially in hot weather, and losing big chunks of inflexible power is a disaster. Far from stabilizing the grid, Diablo Canyon reduces the power available during peak times because system operators need to reserve power sources in case the facility has to shut down. In both 2020 and 2021, Diablo Canyon was shut down almost 40% of the time - more than 140 days in each of those years.

It will cost taxpayers and ratepayers BILLIONS to keep Diablo Canyon online. That money could be spent on increasing battery storage that greatly improves the reliability of our electric system, and on demand reduction programs like OhmConnect, already successfully shifting demand away from key peak time periods. If we’re going to spend billions of dollars, let's spend it on 21st century technologies that provide affordable, clean, reliable, and resilient power.

Write a letter to the editor

Here are some tips.

Contact Info for Bay Area State Senators

Contact Info for Bay Area Assemblymembers