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California's grid geeks:The keepers of a cleanfutureGregory C. StapleFriday, January 20, 2017 - 1:45am

This exclusive six-part series takes an in-depth look atCalifornia’s transition to over 50 percent renewableelectricity. In the face of President Trump’s apparentindifference to global warming, the state has become abeacon of hope for climate activists. The entire series willappear here, with the next piece running Monday. ReadPart I here.

The Sacramento-based Center for Energy Efficiency andRenewable Technologies (CEERT) and its allies long haveseen themselves as prime keepers of California’s cleanenergy future. To keep the state on track, the center long

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GregoryC.StapleCEOAmericanCleanSkiesFoundation

has contended that a much more balanced portfolio ofrenewable sources is needed.

The state’s rapid growth of rooftop and utility-scale solarinstallation must be matched by generation with adifferent daily production profile: more wind, geothermaland biomass resources as well as utility-scale storage(such as pumped-hydro reservoirs).

V. John White, CEERT’s executive director, believes thatpart of this capacity actually could come from one of thestate’s own agencies, the Department of Water Resources.It largely has been overlooked thus far, said White,despite having the potential to back up the electric grid bydeveloping its existing storage reservoirs and generation.

"It's clear you can’t just have moreand more solar photovoltaic, PVsolar… When you add supplies tothe grid, and this is supply foreveryone, you need to make surethe resource provides the best fit forthe longer term goal… for the goalof cutting carbon dioxide emissions

to the levels we want," he said.

White pointed to California’s new 50 percent renewablesmandate, adopted by the Clean Energy PollutionReduction Act of 2015, often referenced simply as SenateBill 350. It requires the state's electricity regulator, thePublic Utility Commission (PUC), headed by MichaelPicker, formerly part of the governor’s small energy staff,to ensure that future utility purchases of new generationfacilities are a "best fit" (taking into account costs) for amuch lower carbon grid.

"They haven't really done that yet at the Commission,"said White. "We're in the PUC’s dockets but you still havepeople fighting about the details of how to harmonize abunch of proceedings that impact climate, how to set up along-term procurement plan for the state and lots ofrelated plans... It's supposed to lead to a so-called

V. John White, CEERT

integrated resource plan for each utility but it’s beingdragged out — it’s a mess."

For White, the "best fit" problem is bigger than the PUC.The largest input that the commission oversees — newgeneration bought by the state’s legacy utilities, such asPacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Southern CaliforniaEdison (SCE) — has become a shrinking part of the overallmarket for new facilities.

Much of the recent investment in PV solar has been drivenby new corporate buyers (including Apple, Google andKaiser Permanente), private home-owners and a risinggroup of competitive municipal energy businesses. Thelatter aggregate the "100 percent renewable" energychoices of their constituents in the wholesale market butstill use the wires of existing retail companies for localpower deliveries.

Much of the recent investment inPV solar has been driven by newcorporate buyers, includingApple, Google and KaiserPermanente.

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These new community choice groups have won growingsupport since 2013, spreading from liberal enclaves suchas Marin County and San Francisco to more than a dozenmarkets, including San Jose, Los Angeles County and SanDiego. Fed by a populist desire for both greener andcheaper energy, community choice is something of a"black swan" for the state's energy policy with unknownfuture consequences.

For example, PG&E recently asked the PUC to retire itslast nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon based, in part,on the fact that municipal choice groups may win as muchas 40 percent of its market by 2025. Some choiceadvocates say their statewide market share could top 50percent by then.

I put this to Jan McFarland, who co-founded CEERT in1989 and brought the idea of a business-backedenvironmental coalition to White. McFarland, a bornorganizer with strong management skills, has representedenergy companies for most of her career, with stints atthe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (when MaryNichols was a senior official) and the state’s energycommission. She now works as program manger forSonoma Clean Power, one of the leading communitychoice providers with over 200,000 customers.

Yes, she acknowledged, buying new generation isfragmented in California. However, McFarland noted thatthe first wave of community choice buyers, based inSonoma County and Marin, have contracted for a more

Community choice is somethingof a "Black Swan" for the state'senergy policy with unknownfuture consequences.

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diverse mix of renewables than now exists on average.

"They are buying in mostlywind, geo-thermal and hydrorather than solar," she said.She agreed, however, thatthere is no grid-wide standardfor renewable facilitiescontracted by choicecompanies, and low cost solarPV may only get more

attractive.

As with community choice, the state’s climate initiativesalso have been affected by the rising Latino power base inSacramento (both state Sen. Kevin DeLeon and AssemblySpeaker Anthony Rendon are Latinos, some 40 percent ofthe state’s population). One result is that environmentaland social justice issues have become much more closelylinked. The impact of any new carbon cuts on poor andmiddle income consumers is also getting much closerscrutiny, as is the distribution of clean energy jobs.

Notably, a 50 percent cut in gasoline use by 2030 had tobe dropped from climate legislation in 2015 because themeasure did not adequately deal with the likely economichit for commuters. The state's oil industry tirelesslymessaged this shortcoming.

White is acutely aware of these trends and has used hislongtime support for progressive causes to build bridgesto new legislators. He also has used his expertise to helpnew members leave a mark by, for example, suggestingbills they could introduce, following up with technicalsupport and quietly working behind the scenes to get a billpassed.

In the last legislative session,for example, White helpedEduardo Garcia, a first-termAssembly member fromCoachella, sponsor a key bill

Jan McFarland, co-founder ofCEERT

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giving the legislature greateroversight of the air resourcesboard and its plans forimplementing deep carboncuts. Garcia's measure,Assembly Bill 197, also

prioritizes climate action for the state’s "mostdisadvantaged communities." They "are affected first, andmost frequently by adverse aspects of climate change,including… drought, heat and flooding," stated the bill;they also suffer the "deleterious effects of climate changeon public health."

When Garcia was mentioned at the retreat, Rey Leon, anenergetic young mayor from the state’s Central Valley,was polite but direct: "We want natural gas plantemissions to go down where these plants are located asmuch as the people do who live there." Leon, who alsofounded a state-wide action group known as LatinoEnvironment and Advancement Policy, had people'sattention: "I really need to take you to the ground where Ilive... You will not be able to read a book and understandit the same way."

Huron, California, Mayor ReyLeon

Renewable Energy Policy

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