October 15, 2009

SBACC Supports Advanced Metering Infrastructure

The South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce (SBACC) supports The Gas Company’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), system and urges the CPUC to approve the proposal.

AMI allows The Gas Company to automate meter reading which would also allow a reduction of costs to both the customer and the Company. AMI offers the additional benefits of improving customer privacy, security and convenience; enhancing meter reading/billing accuracy; and, improving air quality by removing Company vehicles from the road. It also will bring tens of millions of dollars of work to Southern California.

SBACC believes that the AMI system is an important piece of technology. The system will allow usage information online to customers, so they can better understand how they are using energy and can make behavior changes to save energy and money. This can become a milestone decision that will pave the way for a more efficient, sustainable and consumer friendly energy market throughout our region.
 

October 31, 2008

SBACC Continues to Support Sunrise Powerlink Project

SBACC believes in the Sunrise Powerlink which aims to strengthen California’s energy grid. The Sunrise Powerlink will help ensure reliable electric service.

The Sunrise Powerlink will have enough capacity to power more than 650,000 homes and businesses in San Diego County and southern Orange County (San Diego Gas & Electric’s service territory). As a vital new link to the state’s power grid, the Sunrise Powerlink will help ensure Southern California homes and businesses have the energy they need when they need it most.

California’s 36 million residents receive their power via a network of interconnected transmission lines that work together to provide reliable electric service to homes and businesses throughout California. A disruption or breakdown of major transmission lines can compromise the entire system and put consumers across the state at risk for blackouts and energy shortages.
 

SBACC Chair Helen Duncan wrote the following letter to the California Public Utilities Commission urging their support of the Sunrise Powerlink:

October 31, 2008

President Michael R. Peevey

Commissioner Dian Grueneich

Commissioner John Bohn

Commissioner Rachelle Chong

Commissioner Timothy Alan Simon 

California Public Utilities Commission

505 Van Ness Avenue

San Francisco, CA  94102

Via Fax: (415) 703-1758

Dear Commissioners:

The South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce formally requests that you approve the Sunrise Powerlink.  Not only is this transmission project vital to the continued prosperity of the state of California, it is necessary to reduce our carbon footprint and stop global warming. With greenhouse gas emissions on the rise, we cannot afford to depend on older technologies that negatively impact the environment. 

We must increase our reliance on renewables by improving access to large-scale solar, wind and geothermal projects.  That requires building new transmission infrastructure.  The Federal Department of Energy has said that the Southwest region needs upgraded and expanded transmission lines like the Sunrise Powerlink.  And even the CPUC’s own report on the status of California’s progress on renewables says the lack of power lines puts many green energy projects at risk.

One of the state’s primary tools for meeting its energy goals is the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires all investor-owned utilities to generate at least 20 percent of their total electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010. According to the California Energy Commission, tapping renewable resources in California’s Imperial Valley would help the state meet its energy goals. Industry experts, however, cite California’s lack of adequate transmission as an impediment to unlocking the renewable generation potential for solar, geothermal and wind energy in this region.

The Sunrise Powerlink would therefore expand access to new supplies of clean solar, wind and geothermal energy in the Imperial Valley that are waiting to be tapped and help California move towards a greener energy future. The Sunrise Powerlink will benefit all Californians by helping our state meet its environmental goals of reducing greenhouse gases and increasing the use of renewable energy.

We strongly believe that the Sunrise Powerlink is the most environmentally sensible option for the state of California, and we urge you to approve it. 

Sincerely,

Helen Duncan

2008 Chair

September 10, 2007

SBACC Supports Californians for Clean and Reliable Energy and Joins Coalition

SBACC believes in the Sunrise Powerlink which aims to strengthen California’s energy grid. The Sunrise Powerlink will help ensure reliable electric service.
 

Log on to: www.cleanreliableenergy.org for more information.

Log on to join the coalition: www.cleanreliableenergy.org/act

The Sunrise Powerlink will have enough capacity to power more than 650,000 homes and businesses in San Diego County and southern Orange County (San Diego Gas & Electric’s service territory). As a vital new link to the state’s power grid, the Sunrise Powerlink will help ensure Southern California homes and businesses have the energy they need when they need it most.

California’s 36 million residents receive their power via a network of interconnected transmission lines that work together to provide reliable electric service to homes and businesses throughout California. A disruption or breakdown of major transmission lines can compromise the entire system and put consumers across the state at risk for blackouts and energy shortages.

The landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32) positioned California as a world leader in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One of the state’s primary tools for meeting its energy goals is the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires all investor-owned utilities to generate at least 20 percent of their total electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010.

According to the California Energy Commission, tapping renewable resources in California’s Imperial Valley would help the state meet its energy goals. Industry experts, however, cite California’s lack of adequate transmission as an impediment to unlocking the renewable generation potential for solar, geothermal and wind energy in this region.

California’s transmission shortage affects our ability to access clean energy from regions such as the desert southwest where solar resources are abundant. The Sunrise Powerlink would expand access to new supplies of clean solar, wind and geothermal energy in the Imperial Valley that are waiting to be tapped and help California move towards a greener energy future.

This new transmission line will have the capacity to deliver 1,000 megawatts of renewable power to homes and businesses throughout the San Diego region and southern Orange County (San Diego Gas & Electric’s service territory). This clean power would eliminate tons of greenhouse gases that would be emitted if this same amount of energy was generated by conventional power plants.

The Sunrise Powerlink will benefit all Californians by helping our state meet its environmental goals of reducing greenhouse gases and increasing the use of renewable energy and the South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce is proud to be part of this coalition.
 

October 3, 2005

SBACC Supports Affordable Energy Options for California and the Region

SBACC Position

The SBACC supports the new statewide coalition Cal-CASE:  Californians for Clean, Affordable, Safe Energy and the development of affordable energy options including the necessary infrastructure to bring LNG into California to meet the state's natural gas supplies.

Background

Natural gas prices have more than doubled since 2001 because only 15% of our needs are produced in California and U.S. supplies are not increasing fast enough.  At the same time, demand for natural gas is increasing primarily because all of the state’s new electricity plants will be powered by natural gas. That’s why California is at an energy crossroads.  To avoid dramatically higher natural gas and electricity prices in the future, we need to increase natural gas supplies.   That’s how LNG can help.     

What is LNG?

- LNG stands for liquefied natural gas.  It is odorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive.   Essentially, it is the same natural gas more than 60 million Americans use to heat and cool their homes, only in a liquid state.

- Natural gas is converted into liquid form through a process called liquefaction, which significantly reduces the volume of the gas, making it more economical to transport, and therefore, cheaper for consumers.  LNG is converted back to gas by passing the liquid through vaporizers that warm it.  Both processes are performed using advanced technologies with a proven safety record.

- LNG has been in wide use throughout the world for some 45 years.  Chia and Japan import nearly all of their natural gas.  Vast natural gas fields and liquefaction facilities are under construction around the globe, and dozens of LNG facilities are in various stages of development around the United States.

Why We Need LNG.

- California’s demand in the natural gas market is expected to grow significantly within the next 10 years.  To help meet the growing demand, LNG can play a larger role in the state’s energy supply mix and may assist with reducing the potential for price volatility.

- California faces a growing gap between the natural gas it uses, and the natural gas that can be produced domestically or imported economically from the Western United States and Canada.  California generates only 15% of the total annual amount of natural gas it consumes, and U.S. supplies are not increasing.  LNG is the only viable option for increasing the supply of safe, clean natural gas in our state.

How LNG Will Help Our Economy

- Affordability & Reliability:  LNG is essential to keeping electricity prices low and ensuring a reliable supply of power to California homes and businesses.  This is especially true here in California where more than 40 percent of our electricity generating capacity is fueled by natural gas.

- Reduce Cost:  According to a study by the National Petroleum Council, American families and businesses will overpay more than $1 trillion for energy costs unless aggressive action is taken to expand the use of natural gas in the economy.

- Help Stabilize Prices:  U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently said LNG imports could help stabilize natural gas supplies, reducing the risks of price spikes