Discussions with Government Officials

CEERT frequently meets with state and local administrative officials to discuss clean-energy and climate issues, such as permitting and siting for renewable generation projects and the advancement of new, clean, cutting-edge technologies.

Recent Developments:

Discussions with the Governor’s Office

Following the Governor’s vetoes of SB 619 (Padilla) and SB 420 (Becker), CEERT participated in a meeting with Grant Mack, legislative advisor, and Christine Hironaka, Deputy Cabinet Secretary. Mack worked for Bob Weisenmiller at the CEC and has been at the CPUC and on loan to the Governor’s office; Hironaka was formerly a deputy Secretary at Cal-EPA. The meeting was organized by Dan Jacobson, and was focused largely on transmission and the reasons we and a broad coalition of stakeholders supported legislative efforts to streamline the permitting and approval of new transmission projects and infrastructure investments, including overcoming delays in interconnection of clean energy projects.

Since Ms. Hironaka is new to these issues, most of the conversation was with Grant Mack, who was astonishingly unaware of how renewable projects are planned and built, and in a state of complete denial that the CPUC has caused any delays. He suggested utilities and developers were where the problem lay.

We followed up by sharing CEERT’s three transmission reports, and hope that progress can be made at the CPUC on expediting transmission approvals and construction, but we will continue to explore possible legislative remedies through the Clean Power Campaign.

Central Procurement Entity

In 2023 Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia introduced Assembly Bill 1373 in response to the Governor’s proposal for a Central Procurement Entity (CPE). The bill gives the Department of Water Resources the authority to act as a CPE up to 2035, and requires the CPUC in consultation with the CEC to assess capacity payments for load-serving entities (LSEs) and publicly owned utilities (POUs) that are deficient in their reliability obligation. Although an earlier version in the Assembly Appropriations Committee included only the procurement of offshore wind and geothermal energy, AB 1373 was later amended to expand the qualifying types to “eligible energy resources,” including long lead-time zero-carbon projects. The bill was passed and signed by the Governor in October.

Throughout 2023, CEERT partnered with Americans for Clean Power (ACP) and consultant Nick Pappas to convene biweekly calls with other NGOs, renewable developers, and community choice aggregators (CCAs) to discuss the issues and solutions for establishing a CPE. The group followed AB 1373 closely, weighing in where necessary.

After its long, thoughtful advocacy efforts, the group was pleased to see the expanded inclusion of other clean energy resources in the final bill language. Following the enactment of AB 1373, CEERT and ACP are considering another series of calls to discuss the overall procurement of clean energy in California.

Siting and Permitting of Clean Energy Projects

CEERT and Clean Power Campaign have been pressing for the acceleration of clean energy and transmission permitting through both regulatory and legislative avenues. CPC advocated heavily for the passing of two bills, SB 420 by Senator Becker and SB 619 by Senator Padilla, which made significant efforts to speed up the approval of transmission projects. Both of these bills were later vetoed by Governor Newsom, who claimed his newly established Infrastructure Strike Team will be addressing transmission issues. Little information on the Strike Team’s activities has been made public; however, starting in December, CEERT, GridLab, Environment California, and the WATT coalition have been meeting with the Governor’s Office to discuss the urgent need for transmission buildout and offer near-term solutions.

CEERT has also been participating in the CPUC proceeding on General Order 131-D, following SB 529 enactment, with the intent to expedite transmission siting and approval. (More information on this can be found in the Advocacy at the CPUC section below.)

CEERT and CPC plan to further engage throughout 2024 at both the regulatory agencies and the legislature to advocate for more efficient and timely permitting and siting of clean energy projects.