Poseidon vows 100% clean energy for Huntington Beach desalination plant – Orange County Register

As Poseidon Water prepares for final licensing hearings next month on its controversial Huntington Beach desalination proposal, the company signed a non-binding agreement on Tuesday, February 22, recognized the “target” of 100% clean energy for the large energy needs of plants.

The surge in new greenhouse gases stemming from those needs is among the many objections to the operation, and opponents remain skeptical Poseidon will live up to its promise of clean energy. 100%.

The language of the memorandum of understanding signed by Poseidon and Orange County Electricity Authority officials tentatively said that Poseidon would pursue a “100% renewable product investigation.” Instead, opponents want an irrevocable legal document.

After Tuesday’s signing ceremony in a co-working space meeting room in Irvine, Poseidon Vice President Scott Maloni dismissed the opponent’s criticisms. He said tentative language is needed because the desalination project has yet to obtain a final permit from the state’s Coastal Commission, so no binding agreement can be formalized and “defining”. status” of the deal with the Authority remains to be discovered.

“The purpose of today’s announcement is to commemorate Poseidon’s commitment to powering the desalination plant with 100% clean energy,” he told the Register. “This represents the next step towards that.”

The proposed $1.4 billion plant, over 22 years of development, would provide 50 million gallons of drought-resistant water per day, enough for about 400,000 people. The water will enhance an existing supply serving 2.5 million residents in northern and central Orange County.

According to Poseidon, the operation will require 19 gigawatt hours of monthly energy. That’s enough to power about 40,000 homes, according to Power Authority CEO Brian Probolsky.

Although Poseidon has previously said that the project will produce “zero carbon” as the company will purchase the credits through a state trade and cap program, that plan simply ensures there is reduce emissions or sequester elsewhere to compensate for the additional greenhouse gases generated in the energy supply process. desalination plant. But by using 100% clean energy, there will be virtually no new carbon emissions from powering the plant and there is obviously no need to buy those credits.

The Power Authority, established in late 2020, joins a growing state trend called community-chosen energy, where nonprofit agencies provide cleaner alternatives to private utilities like Southern California Edison. Through the authority, customers can choose from three renewable energy blends: 100%, 69% or 38%, the last of which is similar to the mix currently offered by Edison. Cleaner energy is more expensive, with the 100% option now costing customers about 5.6% more than the 38% option.

So far, four cities have joined Power Authority, with Huntington Beach, Irvine and Buena Park choosing 100% as the default choice for customers in those communities and Fullerton choosing 69%. However, individual customers in those cities can choose to stay with Edison, or they can choose a different tier from the default selection.

A ruse?

Critics’ primary concerns in recent hearings have largely focused on the plant’s impact on marine life, mitigating that damage, whether water is needed, and the projected costs. ant of the country – will initially be more than twice that of the importing country. to replace. But other concerns include the vulnerability of coastal activity to sea level rise and the carbon byproduct of powering the plant.

At least two of the environmental groups that rallied against the plant, the Orange County Coastkeeper and Azul, said Tuesday’s agreement did not alleviate their concerns about greenhouse gas emissions.

“All that (Poseidon) is promising is ‘towards ‘100% clean energy,’” said Andrea Leon-Grossman, Azul’s Director of Climate Action. “If they are honest, they will commit to using only 100% clean fuel and avoid using carbon fuels that exacerbate the climate crisis. They will also have no problem promising this before the California Coastal Commission. Anything less is a ruse. ”

Controversy over the project moved to the Coastal Commission for a hearing on March 17, when Poseidon sought the final permits needed before negotiations with the Orange County Water District could be completed to purchase water.

As for the additional cost of purchasing cleaner energy to run the plant, Maloni said it’s not a significant concern.

“Poseidon has not yet estimated the increase and believes the costs are small compared with the benefits of contributing to California’s efforts to curb global warming,” he said. “As California moves closer to meeting the state requirement for 100% clean energy, transportation and treatment of all water sources will include similar electricity rates.”