Welcome to the California Energy Commission

Memorandum of Understanding for Renewable Energy Projects

photo of governor and others after signed executive order from Gov's website.

On November 17, 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order # S-14-08 that raises California's renewable energy goals to 33 percent by 2020 and clears red tape for licensing renewable projects.

The Executive Order will advance California's transition into a clean energy economy and directs state agencies to create comprehensive plans to prioritize regional renewable projects based on an area's renewable resource potential and the level of protection for plant and animal habitat. To implement and track the progress of the Executive Order, the California Energy Commission and the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalizing a Renewable Energy Action Team (REAT).

To streamline the application process for renewable energy development, the Energy Commission and DFG will create a "one-stop" permitting process with the goal of reducing the application time for specific projects in half. This will be achieved through the creation of a special joint streamlining unit that will concurrently review permit applications filed at the state level.

To jump start Natural Communities Conservation Plans (NCCPs) under the Executive Order, the REAT will initiate the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan in the priority Mojave and Colorado Desert regions and identify other preferred areas that will benefit from a streamlined permitting and environmental review process. This will help reduce the time and uncertainty normally associated with building new renewable projects.

In addition to the Executive Order, the Energy Commission, DFG, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management signed another Memorandum of Understanding to establish a coordinated approach with our federal partners in the expedited permitting process. This coordinated approach will significantly reduce the time and expense for developing renewable energy on federally-owned California land, including the priority Mojave and Colorado Desert regions.

Memoranda of Understanding

Many State-Federal MOUs On Renewable Energy Projects are being proposed in California's desert area on federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. BLM has received right-of-way requests encompassing more than 300,000 acres for the development of approximately 34 large solar thermal power plants totaling approximately 24,000 megawatts. Many of these projects have not yet reached the stage of an Application for Certification (AFC) with the California Energy Commission.

Solar thermal projects (above 50 MW) will require approvals from both the BLM and the Energy Commission prior to construction. Therefore, to provide joint National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review and a more efficient process, the BLM and Energy Commission had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). That MOU had attachments listing the solar projects the BLM is aware of (as of July 2007) and the time line for the joint review process.

You can use the BLM's Geocommunicator website at www.geocommunicator.gov/NILS-PARCEL2/map.jsp?MAP=ENERGY to obtain information about the project developer and generate topographical and aerial maps of the particular projects.


Background

California's Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) was established by Senate Bill 1078 (Sher, Chapter 516, Statutes of 2002). It required the state's retail sellers of electricity - investor-owned utilities (IOUs), electric service providers (ESPs), and community choice aggregators (CCAs) - to procure 20 percent of their retail electricity sales with eligible sources of renewable energy by 2017. California's energy agencies subsequently committed to achieving the 20 percent target by 2010; seven years earlier than the target.

This 20 percent target was codified by the enactment of Senate Bill 107 (Simitian and Perata, Chapter 464, Statutes of 2006), which took effect on January 1, 2007. The state's goal is for 33 percent renewables by 2020.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Executive Order # S-14-08 paves the way for that 33 percent renewables to be codified into state law in the near future.

In creating the RPS, the Legislature underscored the importance of increasing the diversity, reliability, public health, and environmental benefits of the energy mix.

To reach the 20 percent target, each retail seller of electricity must increase the percentage of its electrical load served by renewable energy by at least 1.0 percent annually, with certain cost constraints. Under the law, retail sellers of electricity include the state's IOUs, ESPs, and CCAs, but does not include local publicly owned electric utilities.

For more about the Renewables Portfolio Standard, please go to the Energy Commission's website page at: www.energy.ca.gov/portfolio/.