The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has unanimously adopted regulation establishing a 33% by 2020 renewable portfolio standard (RPS).
The regulation is the product of coordination and cooperation by ARB, California Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission and California Independent System Operator, the ARB notes. Work on the standard began immediately following Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger's Renewable Electricity Standard Executive Order, signed on Sept. 15, 2009. The goal of 33% renewable electricity was also a major measure in the Scoping Plan adopted by the ARB in December 2008 toward fulfilling A.B.32, the requirements of California's climate-change legislation.
The regulation applies to all entities that deliver electricity, including investor-owned utilities and publicly owned utilities, including municipal utilities. It creates a program that is consistent for all electrical utilities.
The phased-in approach provides for interim targets for renewable energy: 20% for 2012-2014; 24% for 2015-2017; 28% for 2018-2019; and 33% for 2020 and beyond. The program employs the procedures and mechanisms already used by electrical entities, and the smallest electricity providers (sales of less than 200,000 MWh per year) are only subject to record-keeping and reporting requirements, the ARB notes.
SOURCE: California Air Resources Board
