Webinar: Local clean energy generation or remote — who wins the battle?

Check out this excellent webinar hosted by the Clean Coalition on the true components underlying electricity costs from Distributed Generation and remotely located power plants: Webinar: Local clean energy generation or remote — who wins the battle?

Some key take aways from the webinar are, as follows:

• Transmission costs are the fastest-growing component of your electricity bill.
• Intelligently siting 4 GW of local solar would preempt over $2.2 billion in new transmission infrastructure investments — about $20 billion in ratepayer savings when considering O&M.
• Transmission costs are always borne by ratepayers, while distribution & interconnection costs are borne by solar project developers.
• Scaling up local solar+storage in coordination with utility-scale renewables, we can achieve the same clean-energy goals while saving $473 billion.
• 3¢/kWh is being stolen from local renewables, making them look more expensive.
• Generating energy closer to where we use it = less expensive transmission infrastructure, which lowers costs for ratepayers.
• Continuing with business as usual could cost Californians ~$60 billion in avoidable transmission costs over 20 years.
• Preempting transmission spending by deploying local renewables is not theoretical.  In CAISO’s 2017–2018 planning process, they deferred $2.6 billion in planned transmission spending. This was due in large part to increased deployment of local renewables + increased energy efficiency 
• In 2021, utilities are charging ratepayers $4 billion in transmission. This is a 66% increase over 2016 in PG&E territory alone. Utilities are also charging California ratepayers $5 billion in wildfire liability expenses. These are the real cost shifts.
• Edison Electric Institute (EEI), IOU trade association EEI on DG, 2012:1 “prospect of declining retail sales and earnings; financing of major investments in the T&D [transmission and distribution] . . . ; potential obsolescence of existing business and regulatory models.”  EEI is architect of the NEM solar cost shift attack strategy. CA’s IOUs onboard - each give about $2 million/yr to EEI.*

*Most recent IOU GO-77 executive compensation and contribution reports on dedicated CPUC webpage, accessed June 13, 2021: https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/General.aspx?id=6442454119. SDG&E 2019 GO-77, p. 38 and p. 56, SDG&E paid EEI $1.843 million in dues and contributions in 2019; PG&E 2018 GO-77, p. 118, PG&E paid EEI $2.263 million in dues and contributions in 2018; SCE 2018 GO-77, p. 92, SCE paid EEI $1.871 million in dues and contributions in 2018