Power Grid Issues Limit Future Wind Development

The transmission lines running into Humboldt County are fairly small. This has big implications for local efforts to decarbonize our local electricity supply. The lines are too small to supply enough of Humboldt’s current power demands, necessitating the Humboldt Bay Generating Station, run off methane gas (Gang Green refuses to call it “natural gas”). It also limits our ability to fully realize our offshore wind resource as, again, the damn lines are too small, thereby limiting our capacity constraints.Arne Jacobson from the Schatz Energy Research Lab joins the show to talk through the lab’s new report on grid constraints.For more info, visit Schatz's offshore wind webpage for reports and webinar recordings.Support the show