Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Generation Technology Roadmap

To reach the ambitious goals laid out in Senate Bill 100, California must triple its renewable energy production over the next decade. A broad approach to research across a wide array of renewable energy resource areas will enable California to avoid technology lock-in and drive a diverse approach to meeting its renewable energy goals. This roadmap provides the California Energy Commission (CEC) with 17 recommended initiatives to guide research, development, and demonstration activities across nine technology areas: solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, land-based wind, offshore wind, bioenergy, geothermal power, small hydropower, grid integration technologies, and energy storage systems.
A comprehensive roadmapping process was conducted involving literature research, interviews, surveys, and webinars to gather input from experts and the public to identify barriers and research gaps and prioritize near, mid-, and long-term research, development, deployment, and demonstration activities for each topic area.
This roadmap report presents the method and results of the roadmapping process. Each technology area contains the prioritized recommended technology initiatives, supported by background information that includes generation trends, resource assessment, cost and performance metrics, and other considerations that will impact future CEC technology advancement efforts.