A quarter of a century ago, California stood at the vanguard in the development of alternative energy worldwide. With Gov. Jerry Brown lighting the way--and enduring no small measure of ridicule for doing so--the state took the lead in finding ways to coax electricity from the sun and wind, underground steam and agricultural waste.
Today, as the state struggles with the worst electricity crisis in its history, it is no longer the global leader in exploiting what loosely falls under the rubric of "green" energy.
Japan now generates more than 15 times as much electricity from solar energy as does California, despite having about half the usable sunlight. Germany produces more than triple the wind energy.
And although California remains the undisputed U.S. leader in alternative energy production, Texas, home of the American oil industry, is among several states threatening to supplant its leadership by mandating the rapid growth of renewable power generation over the next decade.
Not that renewable energy has become irrelevant in California.
The state, in its moment of crisis, is counting on alternative power--the most reliable and cheapest source of power--as never before. Without the megawatts these producers pump into the grid, the odds of blackouts would be even higher and the pressure to raise rates even greater.
Moreover, renewable energy producers now hold immense financial power over the fate of the state's second-largest utility, Southern California Edison. At any time, they could drag Edison into Bankruptcy Court--and have threatened to do so--if it doesn't pay them the $500 million it owes for past deliveries of electricity.
With their costs vastly surpassing their income, some producers have simply shut down, draining precious megawatts from the grid. A spokeswoman for the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's power network, pegged the reduction in output by small producers Tuesday at 1,400 megawatts. About half that shortfall, she said, was due to payment problems.
The situation has grown so severe that today the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is holding a hearing on whether to order the renewable power generators back on line.
Leaders in the alternative energy industry--which has grown from its techno-hippie roots to become the province of large, mainstream corporations--say they are optimistic that their future will be brighter. Eventually, they are certain, renewable energy sources will become mainstream; fossil fuels--oil, coal and natural gas--will become, once again, fossils.
