California to be carbon neutral by 2045
Senate Bill 100, signed yesterday by Governor Edmund Brown, increases the amount of electricity to be supplied by renewables to 60% by 2030 - up from the current target of 50% by 2030 - with all of its retail electricity supply to come from renewable energy and zero-carbon resources by 2045.
The bill also requires the state's Public Utilities Commission and its Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to take steps to ensure that a transition to a zero-carbon electric system for California does not cause or contribute to greenhouse gas emission increases elsewhere in the western grid.
The executive order reaches beyond the electricity sector, which represents 16% of California's GHG emissions, directing the state to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and net negative GHG emissions after that. This will require large investments across all sectors - energy, transportation, industrial, commercial and residential buildings, agriculture, and various forms of sequestration including natural and working lands, Brown said.
"This bill and the executive order put California on a path to meet the goals of Paris and beyond. It will not be easy. It will not be immediate. But it must be done," Brown said.
"California is committed to doing whatever is necessary to meet the existential threat of climate change. This bill, and others I will sign this week, help us go in that direction. But have no illusions, California and the rest of the world have miles to go before we achieve zero-carbon emissions."
Two nuclear units at Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon plant currently generate 8.7% of California's electricity which, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, is 16% of the state's emission-free electricity. PG&E in June 2016 announced that the Diablo Canyon units would close in 2024 and 2025.
About 26.9% of the state's generation currently comes from hydro, with 26.9% from renewables and 43.3% from natural gas.
_53540.jpg)
