Renewables Portfolio Standard Verification Results: Merced Irrigation District Compliance Period 3 (2017-2020)

The California Energy Commission (CEC) administers the state’s landmark Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS), ensures the state’s utilities disclose electricity sources to consumers, supports renewable energy development, and tracks the state’s progress toward its renewable energy goals. Enacted by Senate Bill 1078 (Sher, Chapter 516, Statutes of 2002) and accelerated and expanded by subsequent legislation, California’s RPS establishes increasing renewable energy procurement targets spanning multiyear compliance periods for the state’s electric load-serving entities (LSE). Originally applicable to retail sellers, the statewide mandatory RPS was expanded by Senate Bill X1-2 (Simitian, Chapter 1, Statutes of 2011, First Extraordinary Session) to include local publicly owned electric utilities (POU). As a result of Senate Bill 100 (DeLeón, Chapter 312, Statutes of 2018), LSEs are required to increase their procurement of eligible renewable energy resources to 60 percent of retail sales by 2030.

As part of its responsibilities, the CEC verifies the eligibility of renewable energy procured by LSEs, which include retail sellers and POUs that are obligated to participate in California’s RPS. The CEC is also responsible for certifying RPS-eligible renewable energy resources, designing and implementing an accounting system to track and report renewable energy procurement for all program participants, and overseeing compliance and enforcement of POUs. The CEC participated in the development of the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System (WREGIS), an independently administered renewable energy tracking system to verify renewable energy procurement for all program participants. The California Public Utilities Commission is responsible for compliance and enforcement for retail sellers.