GOVERNOR S CONFERENCE ON LOCAL RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES July 25-26,2011 UCLA. Observations by Jim Shetler SMUD

Transcription

1 GOVERNOR S CONFERENCE ON LOCAL RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES July 25-26,2011 UCLA Observations by Jim Shetler SMUD

2 BACKGROUND Conference held to look at how (not whether) to implement the Governor s campaign commitment to add 20,000 MW of distributed renewable energy in CA (by 2020?) 8,000 MW central plant 12,000 MW distributed (20 MW or less) focus of conference ~320 people attended the conference Invitation only Heavy attendance by renewable energy and environmental interests State agencies (CPUC/CEC/CAISO) and utilities also in attendance Facilitated by UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and UC Berkley Center for Law, Energy and the Environment

3 SCHEDULE Day 1 Governor opened session with his clear commitment to see his 20,000 MW goal implemented. His original concept was 20,000 MW of solar PV by The rest of Day 1 was devoted to a high level overview of how to meet the 12,000 MW DG goal with panels on: Governor s Discussion (Governor & three developers) State Goals (how does this fit with other RPS goals) Values (what priorities should drive implementation) Best Practices (how is implementation working elsewhere) Mid-afternoon breakout sessions on a straw proposal for segmenting the 12,000 MW DG goal in to local targets Discussion around methodology & whether goals are achievable The day wrapped-up with a discussion on public opinion on renewable energy highly in favor!

4 SCHEDULE Day 2 Day 2 involved three rounds of concurrent panels to discuss the details of how to move forward First Round Cost and Transparency Interconnection and Approval Process Land Use Planning and Siting Second Round Principles and Design for Financing Integrating Variable Resources Warranty and Standards for Technology & Installation Fire and Public Safety Issues Third Round Jobs and Economic Development Renewable on Public Buildings and Lands Grid Planning Consistent, Effective, and Efficient Building Permits Wrap-up and Closing

5 OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS Governor is committed to this initiative He will listen to opponents, but in the end he will crush those in the way This is about green jobs and the economy as well as more secure fuel sources Cost impacts to end-use consumers was not a main concern Governor did note expectation that CPUC would keep rates manageable Issue raised in presentations by Ron Nichols (LADWP) and Jim Shetler (SMUD) Not much traction, though IOUs and CPUC both thanked me for my comments (concern on stranded investments & impacts to end-use consumers) Many discussed the need for CA to retake the lead in renewable energy 33% RPS is the floor Need to move to 40-50% RPS soon and 100% RPS long-term Much discussion about German model High Feed-in Tariff Utilities must interconnect any renewable energy project Utilities responsible for managing upgrades and impacts to distribution system

6 OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS Cont. Non-solar renewable developers (e.g.: waste-to-energy, small wind, fuel cells) felt that the focus needed to be on more than solar PV Governor s office and state agencies are working on a standardized permit that could be adopted by local agencies Legislative staff view this as the Governor s initiative and the Legislature is not focused on it. Believe the Governor wants to implement through regulatory processes World Bank View Distributed generation is really distributed services Modeling shows that integrated management of generation, transmission, distribution, and distributed services more cost effective than new natural gas power plant Governor s staff and state agencies realize there is a major challenge to implement the goals

7 NEXT STEPS UC Berkley Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment will summarize issues and solutions raised during the two days Participants will have opportunity to comment on draft Goal: final report by end of 2011 to inform the policy discussion Policy venue(s) for future action not yet fully clear Implement through regulatory agencies only? CPUC for IOUs CEC IEPR process Is legislation needed? Timeframe for implementation still not clear 2020 or later? SMUD s comment was that our IRP showed 40-50% RPS not needed until 2030 timeframe to meet carbon reduction goals CMUA and POUs need to monitor this issue as it evolves