THE NET-ZERO BLOG

Climate policy analysis and updates from Sacramento

Clean Power Sam Uden and Alex Breckel Clean Power Sam Uden and Alex Breckel

California needs to expand its clean energy. And it starts by expanding its grid

California’s 2022 Scoping Plan identified the unprecedented amount of new clean energy needed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, including developing a 20 GW offshore wind industry from scratch and more than tripling the state’s utility-scale solar capacity. How can the state deliver on these major ambitions? In this blog post we highlight the essential role of transmission to enable California’s clean energy deployment goals.

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Clean Power Sam Uden and Amanda DeMarco Clean Power Sam Uden and Amanda DeMarco

California advances toward climate goals: permit streamlining

To achieve net-zero emissions by 2045, the sheer volume of new clean energy projects that must be planned, permitted, built and commissioned in only 23 years is unprecedented. AB 205 – a 2022 budget trailer bill passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor – establishes a number of landmark siting and permitting reforms to reduce lead times and incentivize an increase in clean energy deployment. In this blog post, we review AB 205 and provide context for California’s net-zero challenge. This blog post is the second of a three-part series that reviews key outcomes from California’s 2022 legislative session on climate and clean energy.

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