At-a-Glance:
California regulators approved the use of $200 million dollars in funds over the course of four years to be used to implement zero emission technologies for water and space heating for an all-electric buildings program and technology initiatives. The action by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) implements state Senate Bill (SB) 1477. To learn more, read the article from NGI Daily, titled California Natural Gas Utilities Supporting State’s Decarbonization.
Key Takeaways:
- Natural gas makes up 25 percent of California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while the transportation sector contributes 40 percent. Another 9 percent of the GHG volumes come from buildings.
- Regulators adopted “a new reference portfolio of resources” for the electric sector to double its amount of clean energy capacity by 2030, calling for nearly 25,000 MW of additional renewable-based power, including 8,900 MW of battery storage, which the CPUC said is eight times the current national U.S. battery storage capacity.
- CPUC believes the contract permits all the electric utilities and load-serving entities to double the amounts of renewable energy and battery storage.
Path to 100% Perspective:
Senate Bill 1477 also known as the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 not only put mechanisms in place to regulate greenhouse gas emissions of electric and gas utilities, but also gave the state a goal of 2030 to reduce GHG. Efforts to decarbonize with renewable energy, battery storage and electrification programs for new buildings will allow the state to continue to strive towards carbon-free construction as laid out in the whitepaper and webinar, “California’s Faster, Cheaper Path to 100% Clean Power.”.