The world’s fifth-largest economy will have to eliminate
carbon emissions from electricity by 2045.
The California State Assembly passed a historic bill Tuesday
to decarbonize is electricity system, putting clean energy advocates one
procedural vote away from a major victory.
The Senate already passed the bill last year, 25 to 13. The
Assembly version now heads back to the Senate for final approval, before
heading to Governor Jerry Brown's desk. The Senate has until the legislative
session closes on Friday to hold the vote.
SB 100, authored by outgoing State Senator Kevin de León,
raises California’s renewable energy target to 60 percent by 2030 with interim
targets, and gives the state until 2045 to generate the rest of its electricity
from carbon free sources.
Sources closely following the progress of SB 100 expect the
bill to become law. They note there are only minor changes to the bill that the
Senate previously passed during this two-year legislative session.
SB 100 is distinct from similar legislation passed in
Hawaii, which requires 100
percent renewable energy by 2045. California has leeway to pursue
resources beyond just wind and solar, although it is not yet clear which, if
any, the state will incorporate.
Hawaii, with fewer than 1.5 million residents, represents a
special case among states, because it is entirely disconnected from the
mainland grid and must import conventional fuels at great expense.
California, on the other hand, hosts a population of nearly
40 million and ranks as the fifth-largest economy in the world. If the Golden
State follows through on the law, it will prove out the feasibility of a clean
energy transition at a scale never before seen.
"The victory is far more than symbolic," wrote
Daniel Kammen, founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy
Laboratory at UC Berkeley, in an email. "Agenda-setting bills like SB 100
are both vitally important because they clarify other actions that the state is
doing to meet its goals, and because they establish a framework
against which we can measure our investment in the future."
During the discussion period before the Assembly's floor
vote, several Republican legislators expressed concern that the bill would
drive up costs for electricity customers. Members also criticized how the state
has privileged wind and solar power over other forms of generation.
California's existing large hydropower or nuclear power
plants, though they produce carbon-free electricity, do not qualify for the
state's renewable portfolio standard laws, which incentivized new investments
in wind and solar over the last decade.
The new bill's requirement of zero-carbon resources, though,
broadens the scope of what qualifies, leaving an opening for new technologies
that may arise in the next 27 years.
“Today, California made history," said Adam Browning,
executive director of Vote Solar, in a statement.
"We applaud all of the state lawmakers who acted on
behalf of their constituents, answered the overwhelming call for an economy
powered entirely by clean energy, and demonstrated democracy at its best,"
he said. "When the world’s fifth-largest economy votes to go 100 percent
clean, there’s no room left for the naysayers to say it can’t be done."
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