USA, California:

California’s Plan to Replace San Onofre Nuclear: Green Success or Natural Gas Giveaway? (Greentechmedia)

With 2,200 megawatts to make up for, green energy advocates worry that the CPUC’s replacement plan relies too heavily on natural gas.

Last week, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a procurement decision, known as LTTP Track 4 (PDF). The decision will allow utilities Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric to procure up to 1,500 megawatts of new generation capacity between now and 2022 to replace the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS), which closed permanently last year.

Thursday’s decision requires SCE and SDG&E to procure a combined 575 megawatts of “preferred resources” such as renewable energy, efficiency improvements, demand response and energy storage -- anything besides fossil-fuel generation. That includes a requirement for SDG&E to obtain 25 megawatts of grid-scale energy storage, much like last year's decision to require SCE to obtain 50 megawatts of energy storage for the region.

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