California approves new rules for aggressive portfolio standards
Transmission lines, Southern California (source: flickr/ Curtis Gregory Perry, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
1 Mar 2011
New legislation in California allows utilities to source electricity from outside of California to fulfill the ambitious renewable energy portfolio standard of 33 percent by 2020.
In a new piece of law approved last week in the Californian Senate, new rules have been set on how utilities in the state can meet the “most aggressive renewable energy standards” in the United States. These new rules will give the utilities a timeframe of 10 years to source one third of thier power from renewable sources, including geothermal energy.
The difference to an executive order issued by former governor Schwarzenegger is that utilities can now source their electricity under those portfolio standards from outside of California.
California already derives about 18 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and is expected to increase that figure to 21 percent at the end of 2011.
These are good news for the geothermal developers in Nevada, where currently the majority of projects are planned.
Source: Bloomberg
