San Onofre closed is no great loss

A common argument used by those in favor of repairing the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and of renewing the license of Diablo Canyon, the state's last operating nuclear power plant (Pacific Gas & Electric has since announced the plant will be shuttered in 2025), was that the absence of nuclear in the state's energy portfolio would lead to an increased reliance on heavier-polluting natural gas.

A new report from fossil fuels market data firm Argus Media suggests this claim may be off base.

Most new natural gas plants, including the controversial Carlsbad Energy Center, Argus finds, are being built to replace aging facilities, not supplement them. Even then, gas plants are going offline faster than they're being rebuilt.

"An Argus analysis found that 4,264MW of new gas-fired generation could come on line by 2020, but 5,752MW are being shut down," the group reports. "New facilities will be built at a number of the same locations as those being torn down."

Despite the unexpected and sudden closure of San Onofre coupled with extreme drought conditions that cut the yield from the state's hydroelectric generating systems, Argus notes that the state's energy grid remained stable.

This isn't good news for those in the natural gas business, especially as renewable energy continues to compose an increasingly larger share of the state's portfolio. According to the provided figures, natural gas prices in California have fallen to their lowest point since 2014, and a recovery isn't expected before the end of the decade.