Annual RPS Report to California's Legislature Shows Retail Sellers' Progress in Meeting RPS Program Requirements
In compliance with Senate Bill 1222, the 2021 RPS Annual Report ("2021 Report") to the Legislature describes the progress of the State's electricity retail sellers in complying with the RPS program for the year 2020. The 2021 Report shows that retail sellers are well positioned to meet RPS requirements, including the 65 percent long-term contracting requirement. The 2021 Report shows that nineteen of the twenty-nine CCAs that plan to serve load in the 2021–2024 compliance period and beyond have already executed long-term contracts to procure at or above the 65 percent requirement. The 2021 Report also indicates that most CCAs will need to procure additional renewable resources to meet the 60 percent RPS target by 2030.
RPS Progress and Status
Aggregated CCA data to show actual and forecasted RPS procurement percentages in the current and next compliance period.
Actual and forecasted progress the CCAs have made toward meeting the RPS requirements in aggregate.
Annual RPS Compliance Reports indicate that most CCAs will need to procure additional renewable resources to meet the 60 percent RPS target by 2030.
The aggregate percentage in 2020 dropped 8 percent from 2019, and is forecasted to drop again by 10 percent in 2022, primarily because of expiring short-term contracts and several new CCAs coming online with minimal to no RPS procurement.
PROGRESS IN LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT
COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT
All CCAs serving load in the 2017–2020 compliance period reported meeting requirements.
Nineteen must procure additional RPS energy to meet their future compliance requirements.
RPS CHALLENGES AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Challenge 1: Limited CCA/ESP Planning Information to Inform Risk Assessment
Beginning in 2021 the CPUC began issuing quarterly data requests to collect information from all retail sellers on recently executed RPS contracts and the progress of all retail sellers’ projects in development. This change in data collection will allow the CPUC to monitor project development throughout the year rather than an annual basis through the CCAs’ and ESPs’ annual RPS Plans. In addition, the CPUC will highlight retail sellers’ risk assessments considered to be best practices in order to provide retail sellers that have less experience in RPS procurement planning with examples to consult when developing suitable risk assessments for their RPS planning and procurement as well as for CPUC review. Finally, the CPUC will continue to monitor the progress of new resource development and near-term planning risks in the IRP and RPS proceedings to ensure that new resources are built in support of California’s climate goals and reliability needs.
Challenge 2: The Evolution of Procurement Planning
To optimize procurement planning across a host of retail sellers, the CPUC will have to continue to refine and update its procurement planning requirements, primarily through RPS Procurement Plans and data requests. The CPUC will also consider strategies for ensuring that retail sellers provide the information required of them, which may include penalties or citations for noncompliance. The CPUC plans to continue its statutory mandates through CPUC decisions and communications with all LSEs, conveying the significant and pivotal role in oversight that it has for RPS procurement and system reliability.
Challenge 3: Bioenergy Programs
The CPUC is currently facilitating a technical working group to develop a public tool to measure net greenhouse gas emissions from bioenergy projects. The CPUC will perform more granular tracking of the amount of fuel used at bioenergy facilities derived from high fire threat areas, as well as the costs of procuring fuel and electricity, to further understand bioenergy cost-effectiveness. The CPUC will also continue to work to understand the lifecycle impact bioenergy projects, including those that use non-combustion bioenergy technologies such as pyrolysis and gasification
