California governor to sign 33% renewables standard bill Tuesday

San Francisco (Platts)--11Apr2011/602 pm EDT/2202 GMT

California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday will sign a bill that requires the state's load serving entities to source 33% of their electricity from renewable resources by 2020, under the US' most aggressive renewable portfolio standard, his office said Monday.

The bill, S.B. 2X, will be enacted 91 days after a state legislature special session ends. The session has no set time to wrap up.

Under the new law, all load-serving entities need to satisfy a 20% by December 31, 2013, renewable procurement target, a 25% target by year-end 2016, and a 33% target by December 31, 2020.

Of those numbers, tradeable Renewable Energy Credits can account for 25% of the December 31, 2013 renewables procurement target, 15% by December 31, 2016, and 10% after that.

As under the current 20% RPS law, retail sellers can delay compliance with the 33% RPS if they face transmission constraints or certain other obstacles.

The state Public Utilities Commission will oversee potential non-compliance penalties for investor-owned utilities. The California Energy Commission will need to report the potential failure of a publicly owned utility to comply with the RPS to the California Air Resources Board, which could impose penalties.

--Lisa Weinzimer, lisa_weinzimer@platts.com

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