AB 64: Electricity: long-term backup electricity supply strategy.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities, as defined, are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law establishes as policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100% of retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045.

Existing law requires the PUC, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), and the State Air Resources Board (state board) to, in consultation with all California balancing authorities, issue a joint report to the Legislature by January 1, 2021, and at least every 4 years thereafter, that includes specified matters.

This bill would require the PUC, Energy Commission, and state board, in consultation with all balancing authorities, to additionally develop a strategy, by an unspecified date, on how to achieve the above-described state policy in a cost-effective and environmentally beneficial manner. The bill would require the strategy to include, among other things, a plan to promote the development of technologies that can help achieve that state policy. January 1, 2024, that achieves (1) a target of 5 gigawatthours of operational long-term backup electricity, as specified, by December 31, 2030, and (2) a target of at least an additional 5 gigawatthours of operational long-term backup electricity in each subsequent year through 2045. The bill would require the commission, by January 1, 2024, to submit the strategy developed in a report to the Legislature, and by January 1 of each 4th year thereafter, through January 1, 2044, would require the commission to submit a report to the Legislature detailing the progress made toward achieving the targets of the long-term backup electricity supply strategy.