REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on Adoption of Silicon Valley Power's 2018 Integrated Resources Plan
Report
BACKGROUND
Senate Bill 350 (Chapter 547, Statutes of 2015) (SB 350) requires publicly owned utilities with an average annual load greater than 700 gigawatt-hours, in the 2013 to 2016 period, to adopt Integrated Resource Plans (IRP) by January 1, 2019, submit them to the California Energy Commission (CEC) by April 30, 2019, and update them at least once every five years thereafter. Based on historical data, 16 public utilities are required to file an IRP. The City of Santa Clara, dba Silicon Valley Power (SVP) is one of those utilities, with a three year average load of 3,390 gigawatt-hours annually. The CEC is required to review IRPs for consistency with Public Utilities Code section 9621 and recommend corrections to deficiencies in the plans. The Energy Commission formally adopted guidelines in August 2017, and has adopted multiple revisions since with the latest revised guidelines in October 2018.
IRPs are electric system planning documents that lay out the resource needs, policy goals, physical and operational constraints, and general priorities or proposed resource choices of an electric utility, including customer-side preferred resources. These plans will provide a framework for the CEC to evaluate how utilities have chosen to align with greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets as well as energy and other policy goals outlined in SB 350, including but not limited to:
* Reductions in electricity sector GHG emissions commensurate with economy-wide reductions of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030;
* A Renewables Portfolio Standard of 50 percent by 2030; and
* Energy efficiency, storage, vehicle electrification policy goals.
SVP's IRP must be designed to comply with GHG emissions reduction targets for the electricity sector established by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), in coordination with the California Public Utilities...
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