California Getting Closer, Compliance with the RPS not as distant as once thought

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http://www.renewablesbiz.com/article/11/04/california-getting-closer

California Getting Closer
Compliance with the RPS not as distant as once thought
Bill Opalka | Apr 06, 2011

The near-impossible has happened. No one who follows renewable energy closely ever expected California to reach its ambitious goal of 20 percent renewables by the end of last year. But the major utilities recently filed their compliance reports and they came much closer than expected.

The three major investor-owned utilities just filed their quarterly reports with the California Public Utilities Commission that showed they came in, collectively, a shade under 18 percent for the renewable portfolio standard-eligible generation.

All this comes in the shadow of an ever bigger target, the 33 percent requirement that will be due in 2020. While that goal has been the subject of an administrative and legislative tug-of-war in recent years, a bill passed by the California Legislature is awaiting the signature of Governor Jerry Brown.

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Not counted in the report is the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which had been exempt due to its status as a municipally owned system. It adopted its own program that promised to reach 20 percent renewables by last year.

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1. New RPS for 2020 likely to be set

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/california-utilities-nearly-hit-renewable-targets/

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Since 2008, the three utilities have said that it would be unlikely that any of them would hit the mark. California's renewable law includes a grace period that allows them to comply by 2013. That likely won't be necessary.

Nonetheless, it's not time to relax. Governor Jerry Brown will likely soon sign a bill that will require utilities in the state to get 33 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020. California is also encouraging efficiency, net zero energy building codes, and expansion of energy storage. Critics sniff, but they also said the state was run by unrealistic health nazis in the early '90s when it banned smoking in restaurants. That concept has since gone global. (We also gave the world macrame plant hangers, so I'll give you that one.)

The report further added that 2 gigawatts have come on-line in the state by virtue of the RPS law and that 300 megawatts were added in the first quarter of 2011 alone. An additional 589 megawatts will be added by the end of the year.