The state power transmission lines that Governor Davis is negotiating to buy are in a state of disrepair and will require millions to rehabilitate. Ventura County has two active power plants, previously owned by SoCalEd but sold to The Reliant Company of Texas after deregulation went into effect. The northeastern half of the county is semi-desert and has ample space and sunlight to support solar energy plants. We even have the largest solar generation equipment company, Seimens Solar, based right here in Camarillo. These MUDs are city-owned districts that provide power to all residents in the city or district.
MUDs provide a myriad of advantages over the private utility companies.
Producing energy through local MUDs is inherently far cheaper than buying power from current providers. A power generator today does not have to commit millions of dollars in equipment and months of construction before a kilowatt of power can be generated. We would also be free of the threat of power blackouts and the larger threat of bad political deals that will put us on the hook to the large power providers and their stockholders for years to come. Micro-turbines are the equivalent size and cost of an automobile, and are modular and scalable to any generation capacity. Micro-turbines to power entire neighborhoods are compact enough to be installed in existing neighborhood power substations without problem.