California's grid capacity could undermine its clean energy drive and access among poorer households, according to a study
California’s pivot towards clean energy could be undermined by the state’s electric grid capacity, according to new researchMonday, which could severely restrict the number of solar panels that can be used, exacerbate existing energy inequalities and make it harder for disadvantaged, typically Black communities to adopt clean energy.
The limitations also mean around four in 10 households served by PG&E cannot add some of the least-power intensive loads to the grid like space and water heating, air conditioning andThe capacity limitations could hinder the state’s pivot towards green energy and limit peoples’ ability to adopt electric vehicles and use air conditioners, the researchers said.
Mapping census and economic data over the grid capacity data revealed the disparities fall sharply along demographic lines, typically exacerbating the existing racial and economic inequalities in solar panel adoption that are primarily driven by high upfront costs. The researchers called for more considered future investment in the grid to avoid existing inequalities being baked into clean energy initiatives.
In a linked commentary, University of Cordoba professor of engineering Antonio Moreno-Munoz said the dynamics of grid expansion in the U.S. mean the “existence of similar disparities...in other parts of the country is likely.”
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