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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) stated that the state's transmission system only requires minimal upgrades to adapt to the increased solar power generation. Image: Brian Doll, SOLV Energy

According to foreign media reports, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved a plan to add over 25.5GW of renewable energy and 15GW of energy storage capacity in the state by 2032, with an estimated cost of over $49 billion.



The CPUC approved the plan last week (February 10th), which will add 18883 MW of solar energy, approximately 6700 MW of wind power, 14751 MW of battery energy storage system (BESS), and 1000 MW of demand response resources to the state



Together, these resources will cost $49.3 billion, with an average energy cost of 18.6 cents per kilowatt hour generated in California.



The plan adopts a 35 million ton (MMT) greenhouse gas target for the power industry by 2032 (reaching 38 MMT by 2030), which is more stringent than the previously adopted 46 MMT greenhouse gas target. If achieved, renewable resources will account for 73% of the state's energy structure by 2032.

Source: CPUC.

"Today's decision provides direction for the unprecedented procurement of new clean energy. It keeps us on the path to achieving our state's ambitious clean energy goals while ensuring system reliability," said CPUC Commissioner Clifford Rechtschuffen.



CPUC stated that preliminary analysis indicates that "all these new resources on the existing transmission system have sufficient space, and only limited transmission upgrades are needed by 2032", and added that utility scale battery energy storage projects have been identified as an alternative to transmission upgrades to reduce taxpayers' costs.



CPUC stated, "California Independent System Operators (CAISO) will further validate this discovery in their 2022-2023 Transmission Planning Process (TPP)."



However, earlier this month, CAISO released a report co produced by CPUC, stating that the state will need to invest $30.5 billion in its transmission system to accommodate the expected 53GW of solar photovoltaic power on its network by 2045.



Around the same time, after the plan known as NEM 3.0 received widespread criticism, CPUC decided to indefinitely postpone the controversial revision of the state's net measurement law.



The research organization Wood Mackenzie warns that the changes proposed by CPUC in December 2021 will significantly reduce the market for residential photovoltaics in California, with its solar market expected to halve by 2024.

It is expected that the market for distributed energy storage will also be affected.



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