In his inaugural address earlier this month, Governor Brown, referenced several ambitious goals he would like to see accomplished over the next 15 years, including  increasing from one-third to 50 percent the amount of California’s electricity that must be derived from renewable resources. On January 28, 2015, a legislator joined in this ambitious goal setting, as Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia (D, District 56) introduced Assembly Bill 197, which focuses on renewable resources procurement.

Under California’s current Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) 33 percent of procured electricity must come from eligible renewable energy resources.  As currently drafted, AB 197 would require “electrical corporation, in a long-term plan, or local publicly owned electric utility, in a procurement plan, to adopt a long-term procurement strategy to achieve a target of procuring 50 percent of its electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources by December 31, 2030.” [underline added]

We will be watching closely the strategies pursued by the Governor and the legislature to achieve his goal of a 50 percent RPS in California.  In this space, we will track further action by the legislature and regulatory agencies regarding the push to 50 percent RPS.