California agency calls for re-powering of wind turbines
SACRAMENTO, California, US, 2004-11-10 Refocus Weekly
The California Energy Commission wants wind turbines in the state to be repowered in order to “harness wind resources efficiently and prevent bird deaths.”
Commissioners have unanimously approved the ‘Integrated Energy Policy
Report 2004 Update’ for action by the governor and legislature. The report
identifies concerns and recommends actions to avoid an electricity crisis that
could impact the state as earky as next summer.
In a series of recommendations pertaining to windfarms, the report calls on
local permitting agencies to implement methodologies similar to those
recommended in the Energy Commission’s bird mortality reduction report, and
for a removal of the repowering clause in the U.S. Tax Code, along with the
recent extension of the federal production tax credit to help prospects for
windfarms. It also wants the state Public Utilities Commission to require
investor-owned utilities to facilitate repowerings in its pending effort to
develop renegotiated qualifying facilities contracts.
The report examines potential supply impacts from retirements in the state's
aging fleet of power plants, and identifies transmission bottlenecks and a lack
of long-term transmission planning which limits the ability to move electrons
between northern and southern regions of the state. It also evaluates the
feasibility of expediting new, renewable energy sources to meet California's
growing electricity demand and check the state's growing dependence on natural
gas as a fuel source for generation.
In the section on transmission, it recommends that CEC should increase its
participation in a group on the Tehachapi wind resources area and work with the
CPUC to establish a similar group for the geothermal resource area in Imperial
County. To facilitate green power projects, the Commission should investigate
whether changes are needed to encourage transmission projects necessary to
commercialize renewable resources and the state should enact legislation to
codify that all retail suppliers of electricity (including large publicly-owned
electric utilities) meet the accelerated 20% eligible renewable goal by 2010 and
33% by 2020.
It also recommends that legislation should allow CPUC to require Southern
California Edison to purchase at least 1% of additional renewable energy per
year between 2006 and 2020, reaching 25% by 2010, 30% by 2015, and 35% by 2020.
To guide development of the governor’s million solar roofs proposal, the
report recommends that the program establish a comprehensive solar program that
includes new/existing homes and businesses, and leverage energy efficiency
improvements for
new/existing buildings, while addressing peak demand challenges by linking PV
installation with price-responsive tariffs and advanced metering. The program
should target PV deployment to climate zones with high peak demand, provide
long-term declining incentives to promote a sustainable PV market, and explore a
business role in PV deployment for utilities and develop inspection capability.
The CEC should establish a comprehensive state-wide transmission planning
process to assess state-wide transmission needs for reliability and economic
projects as well as support renewable portfolio standard goals.
“California’s systematic under-investment in transmission has left the
state’s transmission lines congested,” and inadequate transmission
“presents a significant barrier to accessing renewable energy resources
critical to diversifying fuel sources, which increases California’s dependence
on natural gas, and slows progress in meeting California’s environmental
goals,” it adds. “While pressing for short-term solutions, California must
not lose sight of its long-term goals for planning transmission and developing
renewable energy supplies.”
“California must develop and codify ambitious long-term renewable goals to
continue the flow of investments in renewable resources in the state, drive down
the costs and push for continued innovation in renewable technologies,” it
explains. “Significant progress has been made to achieve the accelerated goal
of meeting 20% of California’s retail electricity sales with renewables by
2010; however, unless the state sets out longer-term renewables targets for
2020, important momentum could be lost in achieving the maximum fuel diversity
and environmental benefits renewables offer.”
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