CEC Points to CPUC as Bottleneck for 2010 Renewables Goal

The California Energy Commission late last week turned up the rhetoric between itself and the California Public Utilities Commission over which agency is best suited to handle transmission siting—this time in the context of the state's renewables law. In discussing transmission licensing and "least-cost, best-fit" requirements for utility green power contracts, CEC commissioner John Geesman complained that CPUC requirements are hampering efforts to meet the state's renewables portfolio standard goal of 20 percent by 2010. "It's almost three years of growing frustration," said Geesman. He referred to the time elapsed since the renewables portfolio law was enacted and the small number of renewable power contracts entered into in the interim. The discussion came in one of a series of CEC workshops on development of the state's 2005 Integrated Energy Policy Report. It also came against the backdrop of a stalled gubernatorial energy reorganization plan that would shift authority over transmission facilities from the CPUC to the CEC. The key hurdle for renewable power has been the lack of available transmission capacity, according to a CEC staff report prepared for the July 1 workshop. "It is the height of folly to rely on a CPCN [certificate of public convenience and necessity] process to build out transmission," said Geesman. The certificates are issued by the CPUC in what some complain is usually a lengthy procedure. Geesman criticized the renewable power industry itself for accepting the process. He said that it puts the incremental transmission cost burden on renewable power generation projects?creating a burden not borne by "fossil generators."

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CEC Points to CPUC as Bottleneck for 2010 Renewables Goal

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