The Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona’s Maricopa County, seen in 2007. (Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press) This is what every utility should be doing to fight the climate crisis: going big on solar and battery storage, while still investing in diversity — technological and geographic. If a wildfire knocks out power lines linking Los Angeles with New Mexico, the city can look north. If a dry winter limits hydropower production, DWP has other options. In a chaotic world, options are good. Especially when you can’t just fire up a coal or gas plant. Which isn’t to say L.A. is ditching fossil fuels — at least not yet. The city will shut down its coal-fired Intermountain Power Plant outside Delta, Utah, next summer. But in the coal plant’s place, DWP is building new generators that will burn gas, mixed with small amounts of green hydrogen — a clean fuel made from water and renewable energy. The goal is to transition to only hydrogen over time. DWP is planning a similar transition at four local gas plants. But some environmental activists have pushed back, noting that hydrogen combustion still produces harmful air pollution — an especially problematic reality at Valley Generating Station, located in a heavily polluted, largely Latino neighborhood. It’s also not clear how quickly still-nascent hydrogen technology will develop, which could leave L.A. stuck burning fossil gas indefinitely. The L.A. Department of Water and Power’s Valley Generating Station in was built in 1953. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Advertisement Hydrogen skeptics, including the Sierra Club, would prefer to see DWP replace local gas plants with batteries, like the ones at Eland. DWP officials, though, say building enough batteries to shoulder the load now carried by fossil gas — which supplies one-third of the city’s energy — would be phenomenally expensive. They also say it’s easier to keep the lights on with a few big generators that can fire up during the hottest hours each year. “Losing power is a big deal, because people notice immediately,” Quiñones said. High desert residents have no idea when L.A. loses power. But they do benefit from supplying the power. During her 14 years as Kern County’s planning director, Lorelei Oviatt has helped create a renewable energy hub. Wind isn’t new; thousands of turbines have dotted the hills for decades. But the solar boom is more recent. “There is no city in California that flips a switch and green Kern County electrons don’t come,” Oviatt said. A worker installs photovoltaic panels at the Eland solar and storage project in California’s Kern County on Nov. 25. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) I spoke with Oviatt by phone the day after touring Eland. She explained how she works with solar developers to get projects approved as quickly as possible — a challenge in other parts of the West, where permitting can drag on for years due to conflicts involving endangered species habitat, rural landowner opposition and more. Advertisement Oviatt said she tries to steer developers away from federal public land, areas close to homes and the best wildlife habitat. Many of the solar projects supplying Los Angeles, for instance, are located on former alfalfa fields. It’s a tricky balance, because sometimes the highest-conflict lands make the most financial sense. A solar project not far from Eland, for instance, recently stirred controversy when the developer began razing Joshua trees. But California would have no chance of achieving its clean energy goals without Kern County. More than 150,000 acres of solar and wind farms have been built here. And locals are reaping rewards, through a continuous stream of good-paying construction jobs and per-acre payments from developers that fund government services. “We’ve embraced it,” Oviatt said. Workers install photovoltaic panels at the Eland solar and storage project on Nov. 25. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) I understood why. The previous day, I’d watched a crew of workers lift some of the final solar panels into place at Eland, setting them onto steel racks. There were 400 workers on site that day. They moved quickly, securing each panel within 30 seconds. The construction manager told me 10,000 panels were being installed per day. Stepping up to one of the panels, I slid my hand across the back. It felt like glass. “The price we got on this project is unheard of,” Quiñones said. Indeed, DWP lucked out a bit. When Los Angeles officials approved a $1.69-billion, 25-year contract with Eland’s Arizona-based developer, Arevon Energy, in late 2019, solar prices had never been lower. Then the pandemic hit, disrupting supply chains and sending prices inching up. Rising demand for clean energy also played a role. Advertisement DWP ended up accepting a slight price hike for the second half of Eland, to keep the project financially viable. But the developer stuck to $39.62 per megawatt-hour for the first half — a record low price for solar plus storage. “We were able to weather the storm,” said Arevon’s chief executive, Kevin Smith. The Eland solar and storage project, seen from the air. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) DWP deserves credit, too — and not just for driving a hard bargain at Eland. The utility offers some of the lowest electric rates of the state’s big utilities — far lower than Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric. It’s no secret that DWP has a sordid history. From the shameful Owens Valley water grab to a vast web of electric lines built to bring coal power to L.A., the city’s far-reaching tentacles have usually done more harm than good. But these days, DWP is a climate leader worth following. The 100% clean power study that the utility commissioned from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory laid the technical foundation, giving then-Mayor Eric Garcetti the confidence to pledge that L.A. would reach 100% by 2035 — a decade ahead of California’s current target (which Gov. Gavin Newsom really needs to update). DWP could do more to prioritize rooftop solar systems. And although I’m not sure how green hydrogen will work out, I’m encouraged that projects like Eland will cut down on the need for L.A. to fire up its gas plants — meaning less fuel for the deadly heat waves, fires, droughts, storms and floods getting worse with global warming. Advertisement Los Angeles can’t solve the climate crisis on its own. But what starts here doesn’t end here. This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. Or open the newsletter in your web browser here. For more climate and environment news, follow @Sammy_Roth on X and @sammyroth.bsky.social on Bluesky. Show Comments