Embrace reliable and time-tested electricity sources

This article originally appeared in The Bakersfield Californian on October 22, 2023. 

Wind and solar power alone are not enough to power California. We know this because of regular warnings during summer months to reduce electricity use or face rolling brownouts. Determined to not face the reality of unreliable green energy, lawmakers are trying a new approach.

They introduced a bill, which thankfully failed, mandating the skimming of electricity back from electric vehicle owners by requiring that electricity flow both ways when connected to charging stations. Not wanting the unreliability of wind and solar exposed during periods of peak electricity demand when the state risks early 2000s-style rolling blackouts, the government wants to squeeze every last kilowatt from ratepayers.

SB 233 would have required that EV chargers facilitate “bidirectional charging.” Electricity would be stripped from EV car batteries and placed back onto the grid. By 2030, all new electric vehicles sold in California would have had to be “bidirectional capable,” meaning EVs would be converted to “mobile batteries to power a home or building or provide electricity to the electrical grid.” Lawmakers want to take energy Californians purchased and give it back to the utilities when wind and solar energy are unavailable. Worse still, this type of technology may never exist.

Red full op-ed in The Bakersfield Californian.