On Oct. 7, Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Simon of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a highly technical and complex Proposed Decision (PD) implementing portfolio content categories for the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) program. Parties may file opening comments on the PD by Oct. 27; reply comments on the PD are due by Nov. 1.

As previously reported in an earlier Davis Wright Tremaine advisory, the CPUC opened up a new proceeding (Rulemaking 11-05-005) to continue implementation and administration of the California RPS program in light of the enactment of Senate Bill 2 of the 1st Extraordinary Session (SB 2X). Although signed by Governor Brown on April 12, the legislation will become effective on Dec. 10, 2011. SB 2X requires California retail electric providers to procure 33 percent of their retail energy sales from eligible renewable sources by 2020, among other matters. An earlier DWT advisory summarized SB 2X.

SB 2X establishes a structure under which a certain percentage of renewable energy will be procured from three different “buckets” of RPS eligible resources, including (1) in-state or in-state equivalent products, (2) “firmed and shaped products that provide incremental power;" and (3) unbundled renewable energy credits (RECs) and other RPS products.