SB 100 Timeline: Move It on Up!

Advocates Urge the California Energy Commission to accelerate the transition to 100 percent clean electricity

SB 100 requires that the CEC, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the agencies in charge of implementing the law, submit a report to the legislature every four years. On December 4th, the California Energy Commission held a workshop on the draft report they will submit by January 1, 2021. If you think the timeline for SB 100 needs to be moved up or have other suggestions, public comments are due by December 18th at 5 pm at https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/Ecomment/Ecomment.aspx?docketnumber=19-SB-100. Public comments will be considered before finalizing the report.

View the draft report at https://www.energy.ca.gov/event/workshop/2020-12/notice-senate-bill-100-draft-report-workshop under “Documents.”

Noteworthy comments by agency representatives

• The report is meant to be a guide for state planning and includes recommendations on how to reduce costs, increase reliability, and protect vulnerable populations.

• Additional considerations are equity, affordability, safety, and electric system resilience.

• Energy efficiency and load flexibility needs to be prioritized.

• Workforce development programs that focus on high-quality job creation should be promoted.

• There is a land use and permitting side to reaching SB 100’s goals. Natural and working lands are critical to reducing GHG emissions (Mary Nichols).

• Bottlenecks in project permitting and development need to be addressed.

• SB 100 workshops have been held around the state to get diverse perspectives.

• There is joint agency planning between the CEC, CPUC and CARB; there should be an annual joint agency workshop in the years between reports.

• There are multiple pathways to reach 100 percent clean electricity. Increased resource diversity lowers overall costs. State support for research and innovation in clean energy should be continued.

• Hydroelectric dams will remain key sources of energy during emergencies.

• Seventeen states have adopted clean energy goals because of SB 100.

The report also considers accelerated timelines such as 2027, 2030, 2035, and 2040. Modeling was conducted by the consulting group E3.

Public Comments

Representatives from several advocacy groups and trade associations commented. Many stressed the need for offshore wind development, something that agency reps did not mention during the workshop. Many others, such as Dan Jacobson from Environment California, as well as reps from the Union of Concerned Scientists, the NRDC and CalPIRG, said the timeline for SB 100 needs to be moved up, such as to 100 percent clean electricity by 2030. Trade associations advocated for hydrogen energy sources. Several commented on the need for long-duration energy storage.