Summit unites diverse energy developers

Nov. 15—Kern's all-of-the-above approach to energy development served dual purposes Wednesday — policy objective and unifying force — as diverse players in the county's most dynamic industry came together to share ideas, updates and a sense that promising local projects are moving forward.

At the 17th annual Kern County Energy Summit, renewable energy companies broke bread with conventional oil and gas producers, some of them proposing large investments in carbon capture and storage. Hundreds attended the sold-out event downtown.

The result was a robust forum that, though lacking in major revelations, cultivated an air of certainty that California not only needs Kern to reach its climate goals but that the state won't be able to keep the lights on without the county's continuing contributions of energy in various forms.

Director Lorelei Oviatt of the Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department once again kicked things off with a rousing speech at 8 a.m. inside the Bakersfield Marriott at the Convention Center. This time, she called on energy company executives in attendance to avoid what she called default action in favor of paths intentionally designed to meet steep challenges ahead.

People around the state are counting on the local energy industry to bring projects to fruition within five years, she said, and yet the Newsom administration — which she did not refer to by name — has failed to fund business development or work with local government to address thorny permitting hurdles imposed by the California Environmental Quality Act.

After expressing support for the role oil companies play in keeping local libraries open and meals-on-wheels programs running, the woman widely credited for permitting the bulk of California's renewable energy production cautioned against repeating the kind of mistakes the industry made in the 1940s and '50s. That is, hydrogen and biomass energy projects don't belong in the middle of communities, she said.

"Whatever we're going to design, let's do it together," Oviatt said. "Let's not leave our communities out. And most importantly, we need to do it quickly."

Oil industry representatives spoke up against interference from state regulators, pointing out as they often do that restricting permits for drilling and well reworks leads to greater reliance on foreign imports that ultimately clog ports, deforest the Amazon and make the state less energy secure.

President and CEO Catherine Reheis-Boyd of the Western States Petroleum Association trade group argued the state needs the industry to carry out carbon management and should, therefore, stop attacking what she called the cleanest-operating oil producers in the world.

She insisted no industry is more committed to the transition to clean energy, and added that it's frustrating to hear carbon management proponents say, "We like what you're doing. We just don't want you doing it. You're an oil company."

Companies involved in renewable energy also made presentations, which yielded priorities like greater energy storage capacity in the state to help balance out intermittent production of renewable energy from sources such as photovoltaic solar arrays.

Director Mike Simpson of Virginia-based AES Corp. noted a 1-gigawatt project — the largest of its kind in the United States — is expected to open in phases in 2025 and 2026 near Mojave. He said it will come with up to 1 gigawatt of battery storage deliverable over four hours.

His presentation pointed out that energy storage technology is becoming more affordable and less reliant on rare materials, while options for storing energy are becoming more plentiful and reliable.

Carbon capture and storage, which has taken a more prominent place in Kern County energy discussions during the last two years, came up several times but was not the dominant theme Wednesday.

As an event sponsor, Bakersfield-based oil producer Aera Energy LLC highlighted its CCS project, CarbonFrontier. Similarly, another sponsor of the summit, fellow oil producer California Resources Corp., headquartered in Long Beach, called attention to its own efforts in CCS.

Former Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, now working in community affairs at CRC, said the company is busy working with people in local communities, where some have been skeptical of CCS.

Parra said it's time for doubters to come on board, saying, "Either come with us, come to the table, or get out of our way."

The event's keynote speech was delivered by a former member of the California Public Utilities Commission, Timothy Alan Simpson, who came out against Sacramento's and some municipal campaigns' efforts to ban the use of natural gas in homes.

As he did so, Simpson sided with Kern's effort to protect the petroleum industry from attacks by state government. But he also seemed to suggest California's pioneering attitude toward energy may, in some respects, be necessarily painful.

"We're the Marines. We hit the beachhead in terms of our policies," he said. "At the same time, we also suffer the casualties that are associated with those policies."