ORIGINAL REPORTING: California regulators push for roadmap to 100% clean energy

California regulators prod utilities to start drafting roadmap to 100% clean energy; The sum of renewables procurements from California electricity providers is not enough to achieve the state's 2045 target, and regulators are struggling for solutions.

Herman K. Trabish, Oct. 25, 2018 (Utility Dive)

Editor’s note: The proposed decision in California’s integrated resource planning proceeding found the newest LSEs continue to create doubt about the state meeting its climate and renewables goals.

California's 44 electricity providers are updating their formal plans to meet the state's new 60% renewables by 2030 mandate and its 100% clean energy by 2045 goal. Investor-owned utility (IOU) regulatory filings say they have adequate renewables to meet the 2030 requirement and will begin procuring again after that. Customer choice aggregator (CCA) and electric service providers (ESPs) filings say they will procure adequate renewables to meet the 2030 mandate...The sum of the new renewables procurements from California's 44 load serving entities (LSEs) do not add up to what will be needed to meet the ambitious Senate Bill 100 mandate and goal. Yet their filings reflect confidence that the state will meet its demanding ambitions…

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Thanks to the IOUs' existing long-term renewables contracts, the state is on track to meet its 2030 goal, CPUC Energy Division Director Edward Randolph recently told Utility Dive. A few CCA long-term renewables procurements, a tiny portion of the state's demand, are essentially the only new ones from California LSEs in the last two years. This is a hesitant changing of the guard in procurement that raises big questions about achieving the state's goals. The questions were not answered by responses to the California Public Utility Commission's Sept. 19 order to LSEs to update their renewable portfolio standard (RPS) plans. The news was good on the state's then 50% by 2030 renewables portfolio standard (RPS) in the annual report from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). But the report only covered procurements of the longest-standing of the CCAs. As California's customer choice movement accelerates, the new groups join the list of those not on track to meet RPS obligations… click here for more

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