CGNP to CASLC Opposing Wind Generators Offshore of VAFB 08 22 19

 CGNP to CASLC Opposing Wind Generators Offshore of VAFB 08 22 19

California State Lands Commission 100 Howe Avenue, Suite 100 South Sacramento, CA 95825. cslc.commissionmeetings@slc.ca.gov email 

August 22, 2019 

SUBJECT: CGNP's Opposition to Agenda Item 78 for the August 23, 2019 CASLC Meeting in Los Angeles 

RATIONALE: Agenda Item 78 sacrifices national security for unnecessary wind generation proposed to be constructed offshore of Vandenberg Air Force Base. 

1. Agenda item 78 proposes activities leading to the construction of wind turbines 3 miles to the west of Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) on an oil platform in the Pacific Ocean. Wind turbines are incompatible with maintaining a high level of RADAR surveillance against threats to VAFB such as surface-skimming cruise missiles coming from the west. 

2. Wind energy's contribution to VAFB's energy resilience is negligible, as wind generation is intermittent. VAFB requires 24/7 always "ON" power to support its national security missions. Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) currently supplies the reliable power to VAFB. Our nonprofit, Californians for Green Nuclear Power, Inc. (CGNP) continues to advocate for the operation of the nearby DCPP beyond 2025 as a reliable generator that operates independently of California's aging and vulnerable natural gas distribution and storage system. Instead, DCPP's energy source is located within DCPP's twin reactor cores. Brief refueling outages occur on a staggered basis very 18-20 months. Thus, DCPP reliably produces power without interruption for VAFB for many years at a time. 

3. The alternative to DCPP's safe, reliable, cost-effective and zero-emissions power is natural-gas-fired generation. Furthermore, California has already constructed several large bulk energy storage systems based on hydroelectric pumped storage. As a consequence of the large amount of California's intermittent solar and intermittent wind generation, those bulk energy storage systems must be used instead to provide "ancillary services" which insure voltage and frequency stability for California's power grid. Solar and wind's generation maxima are poorly-aligned with California's energy needs. As a consequence of this poor alignment, substantial curtailment of solar and wind by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is already taking place. Thus, California already has too much solar and wind, so offshore wind generation would further exacerbate the existing glut of wind generation. Both solar and wind are backed up with natural-gas-fired generation, operated in an inefficient, intermittent fashion that increases emissions (Battery electric storage (BES) is extremely expensive and too small by at least a factor of 10,000. Furthermore today's rechargeable batteries are plagued with short operational lives, typically less than a decade.) 

DISCUSSION: 

1. Wind turbines are incompatible with maintaining a high level of RADAR surveillance against threats to VAFB such as surface-skimming cruise missiles coming from the west. 

The first CORONA launch in 1959 was from VAFB, as were all of the remaining CORONA, GAMBIT, and HEXAGON missions. The last of those film-return missions was launched in 1986. The 30th Space Wing at VAFB continues to launch important surveillance assets. In addition, an installation of the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system is at VAFB. These assets merit protection from any adversary's cruise missiles launched from the west of VAFB. VAFB's defense requires unobstructed RADAR surveillance. RADARs must be programmed to ignore the random RADAR reflections caused by the rotating wind turbine blades. This "intentional blinding" extends far beyond the solid angle subtended by the turbine's rotating blades. RADAR surveillance is incompatible with offshore wind generators. In my many tours of VAFB, I've observed many large RADAR domes. However, I have not observed any on-shore wind 

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generators within the base perimeter, nor nearby. Please see the Exhibits for additional information supporting this incompatibility. 

RADARs must be programmed to ignore the random reflections associated with the operation of a wind turbine. However, that means turning off surveillance to that section of the sky. As an example, please see the November 12, 2013 Ottawa Citizen article found in the Exhibits section. 

Please also recall the story of the sinking of the HMS Sheffield (D80) by Argentina's Air Force during the Falklands War using an Exocet missile on May 4, 1982. With VAFB's RADARs blinded near any wind turbine installation, such sea-skimming missiles would not be seen by the defenders of VAFB, perhaps until the very last second. Then it would be too late, just as it was for the HMS Sheffield. 

Additional references regarding this national security topic are found here: http://wiseenergy.org/Energy/NC/RadarReports.pdf A copy of this page of references is found in the Exhibits section. 

2. Nearby Diablo Canyon Power Plant currently supplies energy resiliency to VAFB. DCPP's "always ON" power currently supports VAFB's important national security mission. CGNP continues to advocate for the continued safe operation of DCPP beyond 2025 to support national security, among other rationales. On the other hand, inherently-intermittent wind generation, as proposed by the applicants, fails to make any significant contribution to VAFB's energy resiliency. Instead, wind generation furthers California's dependency on an aging (mostly 50 to 60-year-old) system of bulk natural gas transmission and storage - as intermittent wind and solar are backed up with natural-gas-fired generation. See the August 11, 2016 Washington Post article by Chris Mooney, "Turns out wind and solar have a secret friend: Natural gas" http://tinyurl.com/Natural-Gas-Secret As evidence of this aging infrastructure, in the fall and winter of 2015-2016, Sempra's Aliso Canyon Storage Field failed spectacularly, causing the largest leak in history of the potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. Recall also PG&E's San Bruno Natural Gas Pipeline explosion, on September 9, 2010 which killed 8, injured many more, and caused millions in property damage. 

CGNP established in written testimony before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) using CAISO's official that the capacity factor (percentage ON time) for both solar and wind for the half year ending on January 31, 2017 for all of California's wind and solar was a paltry 20%. Natural gas filled in for almost all of the 80% required for backup of solar and wind. Summary performance data is presented here: "NECG Commentary - Diablo Canyon Retirement" by Gene Nelson, Ph.D. January 11, 2018 found in the Exhibits section. 

3. California already has too much solar and wind, as is shown by CAISO's recent records showing a dramatic curtailment increase of both solar and wind in 2019. This information is shown in the Exhibits. The above-referenced NECG Commentary provides graphical representation of the unreliable and erratic nature of California's solar and wind generation. Furthermore, two large bulk energy storage systems (Helms Pumped Storage and Castaic Pumped Storage) are shown to only have modest utilization for energy storage. The most likely use of these expensive facilities is to provide important voltage and frequency stability to the California power grid, as both solar and wind destabilize California's power grid. 

The pristine environment offshore of VAFB should be preserved from encroachment for military R&D purposes. Wind turbines produce random RADAR echoes above the surface and the infrasound from their operation obscures SONAR under the surface. Both problems would prevent important R&D work to detect and deter our nation's adversaries. All of these arguments support the rejection of Agenda item 78. 

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