California’s power grid continues to evolve and will look much different by 2040, according to a 20-year draft transmission plan released by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The plan calls for significant additional renewable energy resources, along with a $30.5-billion build-out of the transmission grid.
The outlook, developed by the grid operator along with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Energy Commission (CEC), provides details about how the state will meet increased demand for electricity. The plan said the state will need about 120 GW of new power generation resources added to the CAISO system by 2040, including energy storage, utility-scale solar, offshore wind, and imports of clean energy from other states.
“There is a critical need for more proactive, long-term transmission planning and coordination,” said Elliot Mainzer, CAISO president and CEO … “In developing the 20-year Outlook, we have worked closely with the California Energy Commission (CEC), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and a diverse group of stakeholders to begin delineating the long-term architecture of the California grid and better align power and transmission planning, resource procurement and interconnection queuing. This type of forward-looking planning and coordination is essential to meeting the state’s energy policy goals in a reliable and cost-effective fashion and strengthening interconnections with our partners across the West.”
https://www.powermag.com/caiso-plan-calls-for-30-5-billion-f…
Jaak
P.S. - PG&, the state’s largest utility, this week released a plan to add nine new battery energy storage system projects, totaling about 1.6 GW of capacity, to its generation fleet, as part of a directive for clean energy procurement issued by the CPUC last year.