In collaboration with the California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, California Independent System Operator, Aspen Environmental Group and other stakeholders, the California Natural Resources Agency Completed their Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (RETI 2.0) Plenary Report.
The Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative was introduced in September 2015 in response to Governor Brown’s Executive Order B-30-015 and the subsequent Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 which aims at reducing GHG emissions 40% below 1990 levels – by the year 2030, in part by achieving a 50% Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS).
To accomplish this, the Leaders of the State’s Energy Agencies convened RETI 2.0 to examine where potential new renewable energy generation could be developed and assess what transmission upgrades may be needed to deliver clean renewable energy to California’s load centers.
The goal of RETI 2.0 is to update and expand upon the insights gained during the first RETI process. RETI 2.0 includes a review of recent data regarding the resource potential, costs and benefits of renewable energy resources throughout California and the western United States, while offering information regarding the ability of the existing transmission infrastructure to access these resource areas.
The project also collected information about new transmission proposals in various stages of development that could help facilitate substantial renewable energy development from various resource areas.
While the report was not created to endorse any specific development proposal, plan, project or technology, one important finding was the recognition that, given constraints to developing new transmission lines, advanced conductors (such as CTC Global’s high-capacity, energy- efficient ACCC conductor) and flow control technologies may be important options to accommodate future development by serving to increase the capacity of existing transmission corridors, while reducing impacts on natural, cultural, and tribal resources.
The Report can be downloaded at the following link:
https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/reports
