The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years.
This bill would require the state board, by December 31, 2022, as a part of the scoping plan and the state’s goal for carbon neutrality, to prepare a strategic plan for accelerating the production and use of green hydrogen, as defined, in California and an analysis of how curtailed power
could be better utilized to help meet the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.
Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires the Energy Commission, on a biennial basis, to adopt an integrated energy policy report containing an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, as a part of the report, to conduct transportation forecasting and assessment activities that include, among other things, an assessment of trends in transportation fuels, technologies, and infrastructure supply and demand.
This bill would require the Energy Commission, by June 1, 2022, to submit to the Legislature a report studying and modeling green hydrogen and its role in decarbonizing the power and transportation sectors, and helping to achieve, state’s clean energy and climate change goals.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and the Energy Commission to undertake specified actions to advance the state’s clean energy and pollution reduction objectives, including, where feasible, cost effective, and consistent with other state policy objectives, increasing the use of large- and small-scale energy storage with a variety of technologies. Existing law specifies that green electrolytic hydrogen, as defined, is one of these energy storage technologies to be targeted for increased use and requires the PUC, state board, and Energy Commission to consider green electrolytic hydrogen an eligible form of energy storage, and to consider other potential uses of green electrolytic hydrogen.
Existing law requires the PUC to identify a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy resources in a
cost-effective manner. Existing law requires that the portfolio rely upon zero carbon-emitting resources to the maximum extent reasonable and be designed to achieve any statewide limit on emissions of greenhouse gases established by the state board pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
This bill would require the PUC to consider both green hydrogen and green electrolytic hydrogen to be a zero carbon-emitting resource for purposes of identifying a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy resources in a cost-effective manner.
Existing law requires the PUC to adopt a process for each load-serving entity to file an integrated resources plan to meet various requirements.
This bill would require the PUC to work to advance green hydrogen within the integrated
resources plan.
Existing law establishes a 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, Energy Commission, and state board to utilize programs authorized under existing statutes to achieve this policy.
This bill would require that the PUC, state board, and Energy Commission consider green hydrogen to be a zero-carbon resource for these purposes.
Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities to ensure reliability of electrical services in California while advancing, to the extent feasible, the state’s goals for clean energy, reducing air
pollution, and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
This bill would require the PUC to modify the resource adequacy requirements and accounting rules to provide equal consideration for dispatchable local and system resource adequacy resources made from green hydrogen. The bill would require the PUC, in a rulemaking proceeding related to energy storage, to consider green hydrogen as part of encouraging portfolio diversity.