By Robert Mullin
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday reaffirmed his commitment to an expanded CAISO, a month after asking state agencies to delay their efforts to complete enabling legislation.
Brown told the ISO’s annual stakeholder symposium that greater cooperation with balancing authority areas in neighboring states is essential to increasing the efficiency of the grid and meeting California’s ambitious renewable portfolio standard of 50% by 2030. The governor signed a bill Thursday to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. (See California Legislature Approves Bill to Sharply Reduce GHG Emissions.)
“I think we recognize the imperative of making our electric system as efficient as it possibly can be,” Brown said. “The efficiency of a wider grid is unmistakable. And the imperative is greater efficiency, greater elegance and intelligence in the way we use and produce electricity, the way we market it and the way it goes around the system.”
Brown listed some of the dangers to California from climate change — including longer wildfire seasons and the potential for flooding in low-lying areas — and asked how California can work with other states “that have different perspectives” on dealing with climate change.
“That’s something I think you’re all here to figure out, because we’re not going to change differences in different states that have different needs and different experiences,” Brown said.
The governor noted that utilities in his own state at one time doubted the possibility that they could sustain a 20% RPS by 2020. But those companies are now on track to exceed that goal and are confident they will hit the 50% objective.
“But in order to get there, we need a grid that is highly sophisticated,” he said. “We need a grid that is conterminous with the technology and capability that is possible today.”
“So I hope you work all that out,” Brown added, humorously. “Make sure that those who love coal and those who love the sun can sit down and work in a totally seamless web of interconnection, interaction and happiness for all.”
Brown acknowledged the difficulty of advancing regionalization through the political process of multiple states. The governor last month postponed plans to present the legislature with a governance plan for an expanded ISO, saying there wasn’t enough time to complete the proposal before the legislative session ended Sept. 1. (See Governor Delays CAISO Regionalization Effort.)
“But the times are changing, and the technologies are forcing us to reexamine how things work,” Brown said.
