The University of California, Berkeley's (UC Berkeley) Center for Law, Energy and the Environment has released a new report proposing policy solutions for meeting Gov. Jerry Brown's goal of deploying 12,000 MW of local renewable energy by 2020.
The report, titled ‘California's Transition to Local Renewable Energy: 12,000 Megawatts by 2020,’ consists of key takeaways from the July 2011 Governor's Conference on Local Renewable Energy at UC Los Angeles.
According to the Clean Coalition, the report highlights many of its recommendations for state decision-makers, including the need to take the following actions:
– Clarify and prioritize the policy objectives underlying the 12,000 MW goal to guide the development of statewide programs and policies that affect local renewable development.
– Improve and expand utility procurement programs for local renewable projects, acknowledging that current programs, left as is, will not put California on a path to success by 2020.
– Catalyze a paradigm shift toward statewide policy and process integration, so that distributed renewable resources and intelligent grid technologies can work together to support timely, cost-effective growth of clean local energy.
– Fundamentally reform distribution grid interconnection processes, with a focus on increasing transparency to reduce unreasonable timelines and costs, resolve jurisdictional ambiguities, and improve cost allocation policies.
