California Regulator Adopts Long-Term Resource Plan Seeking 12 Gigawatts of Renewables, Storage

The California Public Utilities Commission approved a preferred system portfolio that calls for 12 gigawatts of new renewables and storage by 2030, including 1.7 gigawatts of geothermal, according to a May 1 decision. The agency said that geothermal is valuable for balancing the intermittency of wind and solar resources. The plan will require “concrete procurement of specific resources,” with a focus on community choice aggregators to meet their growing demand.

The agency launched “procurement track” in the proceeding to explore options for facilitating procurement resource types that are found to be necessary for maintaining system reliability and facilitate renewable integration.

Regulators adopted the plan after finding that the resource plans filed by the state’s load-serving entities were insufficient to meet the state’s emissions goals. The state has a goal of achieving the 60 percent of its electricity from renewable resources in 2030.