Picking up the Pace

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.

Collectively, the large IOUs reported that they served 17.9 percent of their electricity with RPS‐eligible generation in 2010, up from 15.4 percent in 2009. Pacific Gas & Electric served 17.7 percent of its 2010 load with RPS‐eligible renewable energy, Southern California Edison with 19.4 percent, and San Diego Gas & Electric with 11.9 percent.

PG&E is by far the largest of the three, hence the figures are not a simple average of the IOU totals.

Highlights of the CPUC report include that to date, 2,002 megawatts of new renewable capacity achieved commercial operation under the RPS program; 300 megawatts of new renewable capacity has come online in the first quarter of 2011, with an additional 589 megawatts forecast to come online by the end of the year.

Why the increases? 

No non‐compliance penalties have been levied against the IOUs.

The percentage in 2010 is a 2.5 percentage point increase from 2009. The RPS percentage in 2010 for each IOU compared to 2009 is:

• PG&E: 17.7%, a 3.6 percentage point increase
• SCE: 19.4%, a 2.6 percentage point increase
• SDG&E: 11.9%, a 1.7 percentage point increase

The CPUC said the increases are due to a number of factors:

1. New RPS facilities achieved commercial operation;
2. Small RPS‐eligible hydroelectric facilities generated more in 2010 than in 2007, 2008, and 2009; and
3. Utility customers used less power in 2010 than the prior three years, which allowed renewable energy procurement to account for a greater percentage of retail sales.

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.

If California is successful in achieving these goals, more states may up their ante by trying to increase their use of green energy.

Bill Opalka is editor of RenewablesBiz Daily

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