L.A. Collects Green Bonafides By Canceling Plans for Natural Gas Power

{Updated February 20, 2019] "The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will be shuttering its three gas-fired coastal power plants over the next decade, a key step in the city’s aspiration to become the nation’s first metropolis to run entirely on renewable energy," reports Martin Wiskol.

The power plants, located in Long Beach, Wilmington and Playa del Rey, "had been slated for new, more efficient units run on natural gas. That would have extended the life of the plants until 2045, the state’s target for eliminating fossil-fuels as a source for electricity," according to Wiskol.

The announcement effectively shifts $5 billion in expected costs to build the new natural gas units to accelerating the transition to renewable energy.

While the announcement "thrilled" environmentalists and public health advocates, according to another article by Sammy Roth, the hard work of replacing the three facilities without raising energy prices or increasing the risk of power outages is just beginning.

As Roth notes, the city has mandate from the state of California to stop burning gas at the three plants. "DWP officials had said they weren’t sure clean technologies like batteries would be cheap or effective enough to replace the gas plants before the state’s deadlines, 2024 for Scattergood and 2029 for Harbor and Haynes," according to Roth.