The Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) establishes increasingly progressive renewable energy procurement targets for the state’s load serving entities, including retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities (POUs). Under the RPS, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is required in part to adopt regulations specifying procedures for enforcement of the RPS for the POUs. The CEC adopted regulations, referred to as the Enforcement Procedures for the Renewables Portfolio Standard for Local Publicly Owned Electric Utilities (RPS POU Regulations) in June 2013, and they became effective October 1, 2013. These regulations are codified in the California Code Regulations, title 20, sections 1240 and 3200 – 3208. The CEC subsequently adopted amendments to the RPS POU Regulations, which took effect in April 2016. Since the CEC last amended the RPS POU Regulations, Senate Bill (SB) 350 (de León, Chapter 547, Statutes of 2015), SB 1393 (de León, Chapter 677, Statutes of 2016), SB 1110 (Bradford, Chapter 605, Statutes of 2018), and SB 100 (de León, Chapter 312, Statutes of 2018) made statutory changes to the RPS.
The CEC plans to institute a formal rulemaking to consider amendments to the RPS POU Regulations next year. In advance of the rulemaking, staff is conducting public pre-rulemaking activities to identify and develop proposed changes to the existing regulations. Staff initiated pre-rulemaking activities in 2016 to consider the implementation of SB 350, but these activities were temporarily suspended. Staff resumed pre-rulemaking activities in 2019.
Staff seeks additional input on potential options for implementation of the long-term procurement requirement (LTR) required by SB 350, which staff previously considered during its initial pre-rulemaking activities. The Implementation Proposal for Renewables Portfolio Standard Long-Term Procurement Requirement for Local Publicly Owned Electric Utilities summarizes potential implementation options for the LTR based on staff’s initial pre-rulemaking activities, public comment staff received, and the California Public Utilities Commission’s implementation of the LTR for retail sellers. Staff developed this paper to facilitate discussion of the implementation options for the LTR, the characterization of long-term procurement, and the process by which a POU may elect early compliance with the LTR.
