Assembly BillChaptered/SignedPublic Resources
AB 2111: Electricity: transmission planning and transmission facilities.
What AB 2111 does, verified September 21, 2026
<p>The bill aims to update transmission planning and infrastructure development in California:</p> <p>It requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and Independent System Operator (ISO) to revise their memorandum of understanding and workplan by January 1, 2028, aligning with federal requirements.</p> <p>The bill mandates that PUC identifies a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources for reliable electricity supply in a cost-effective and risk-prudent manner. It also requires the ISO to plan sufficient infrastructure capacity to facilitate resource procurement and improve diversity and competition through increased interconnection capacity.</p> <p>Projections for resource portfolios and electricity demand must cover at least 20 years, replacing annual projections with longer-term planning. The bill adds reducing res…
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Last action: Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 382, Statutes of 2026. (2026-09-20)Alert me
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| Sep. 20, 2026 | Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 382, Statutes of 2026. |
| Sep. 20, 2026 | Approved by the Governor. |
| Sep. 03, 2026 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m. |
| Aug. 26, 2026 | Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6600.). |
| Aug. 26, 2026 | In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. |
Latest bill textEnrolled version, August 30, 2026 · 5,563 words
| Enrolled August 30, 2026 |
| Passed IN Senate August 25, 2026 |
| Passed IN Assembly August 26, 2026 |
| Amended IN Senate August 21, 2026 |
| Amended IN Senate July 01, 2026 |
| Amended IN Senate June 04, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly April 13, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly March 26, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly March 16, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2111
| Introduced by Assembly Member Papan (Coauthor: Senator McNerney) |
February 18, 2026 |
An act to add and repeal Section 25308.1 of the Public Resources Code, and to amend Sections 454.51 and 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2111, Papan. Electricity: transmission planning and transmission facilities.
(1) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), to provide transmission-focused guidance to the Independent System Operator (ISO) about resource portfolios of expected future renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources, including the allocation of those resources by region based on technical feasibility and commercial interest in each region to allow the ISO to identify and approve transmission facilities needed to interconnect resources and reliably serve the needs of load centers, as specified. On December 23, 2022, the PUC, the Energy Commission, and the ISO entered into a memorandum of understanding related to resource and transmission planning, transmission development and permitting, procurement, and interconnections to achieve reliability and policy needs and to coordinate the timely development of resources, resource interconnections, and needed transmission infrastructure. Existing law requires the Energy Commission and the PUC, in coordination with the ISO, every 5 years, to review the memorandum of understanding and a related workplan to ensure the memorandum and workplan reflect the coordination that is needed to help meet the state’s energy goals.
This bill would require those entities, on or before January 1, 2028, to update the memorandum and workplan to, among other things, ensure that the memorandum and workplan reflect the requirements of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 1920, as applicable.
(2) Existing law vests the PUC with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC to identify a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy and resource diversity in a cost-effective manner, as specified.
This bill would require that the portfolio provide optimal integration in a cost-effective and risk-prudent manner, as specified.
(3) Existing law requires that the above-described transmission-focused guidance provided to the ISO provide projections each year to support planning and approvals by the ISO in its annual transmission planning process, including projections of resource portfolios and electricity demand by region for at least 15 years into the future, as specified. Existing law expresses the state policy that planning for new transmission facilities include consideration of the goal of increasing systemwide reliability and cost efficiency, among other state policy goals.
This bill would require that the transmission-focused guidance takes into account uncertainty and optionality, is risk prudent, and supports compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders, as specified. The bill would remove the requirement that the projections be provided annually and would require the projections of resource portfolios and electricity demand by region to be for at least 20, rather than 15, years into the future. The bill would add to those state policy goals reducing resource interconnection timelines and supporting achievement of the state’s energy, climate change, and air quality goals.
(4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by AB 2369 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2369 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(5) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime.
Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a PUC action implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 25308.1 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:25308.1.
(a) On or before January 1, 2028, the commission and Public Utilities Commission, in coordination with the Independent System Operator, shall update the Memorandum of Understanding Between the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Independent System Operator (ISO) Regarding Transmission and Resource Planning and Implementation (December 23, 2022) and the related workplan to do all of the following:(1) Ensure that the memorandum and workplan reflect the requirements of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 1920, as later clarified by FERC Order 1920-A and FERC Order 1920-B, as applicable. These revisions shall support the development of resource portfolios and approval of transmission facilities that are cost effective and risk prudent and equip the Independent System Operator with at least three portfolios that represent state policy needs in planning transmission in accordance with Order 1920.
(2) Ensure that the commission provides load forecasts to support risk-prudent planning by the Public Utilities Commission.
(3) Introduce a mechanism for the Public Utilities Commission to provide guidance on any supplemental or accelerated transmission needs to improve system adaptability, reduce risk, or support competitive resource procurement.
(b) For purposes of this section, “risk prudent” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 454.51 of the Public Utilities Code.
(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2029, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 2.
Section 454.51 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:454.51.
The commission shall do all of the following:(a) Identify a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy and resource diversity in a cost-effective and risk-prudent manner. The portfolio shall be used by the commission to establish integrated resource planning-based procurement requirements that rely on zero-carbon-emitting resources to the maximum extent reasonable and be designed to achieve the state policy specified in Section 454.53 and any statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit established pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code) or any successor legislation.
(b) Direct each electrical corporation to include, as part of its proposed procurement plan, a strategy for procuring best-fit and least-cost resources to satisfy the portfolio needs identified by the commission pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) Ensure that the net costs of any incremental renewable energy integration resources, or diverse resources, procured by an electrical corporation to satisfy the need identified in subdivision (a) are allocated on a fully nonbypassable basis consistent with the treatment of costs identified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 365.1.
(d) Permit community choice aggregators to submit proposals for satisfying their portion of the renewable integration and diverse resources need identified in subdivision (a). If the commission finds this need is best met through long-term procurement commitments for resources, community choice aggregators shall also be required to make long-term commitments for resources. The commission shall approve proposals pursuant to this subdivision if it finds all of the following:
(1) The resources proposed by a community choice aggregator will provide equivalent integration of renewable energy.
(2) The resources proposed by a community choice aggregator will promote the efficient achievement of state energy policy objectives, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
(3) Bundled customers of an electrical corporation will be indifferent to the approval of the community choice aggregator proposals.
(e) Ensure that all costs resulting from nonperformance in satisfying the need in subdivision (a) or (d), as applicable, shall be borne by the load-serving entity, as defined in Section 380, that failed to perform.
(f) For purposes of this section, both of the following definitions apply:
(1) “Planning uncertainties” means future uncertainties that may affect resource planning decisions, such as load growth, in-state and out-of-state resource availability, and technology costs.
(2) “Risk prudent” means reflective of both of the following characteristics:
(A) (i) Achieving state objectives, including ensuring a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy and resource diversity in a cost-effective manner, across a range of plausible futures informed by planning uncertainties.
(ii) The ability of a risk-prudent plan to achieve state objectives is not dependent on an assumption of perfect foresight reflective of predictions or forecasts that assign one specific value to planning uncertainties.
(B) Accounting for and including characterization of the ability of near-term decisions to improve adaptability in response to planning uncertainties, such as planning sufficient diverse resources and transmission facilities to accommodate planning uncertainties, maintaining a competitive market for resource procurement, and accounting for development and interconnection delays.
SEC. 3.
Section 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:454.57.
(a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Accelerating Renewable Energy Delivery Act.(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) The commission, the Energy Commission, and the State Air Resources Board have jointly estimated that the state’s installed electrical generation may need a threefold increase in capacity to meet state carbon-free electricity policy targets.
(2) Recordsetting renewable energy generation build rates are needed to meet the goals of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program and the Senate Bill 100 (Chapter 312 of the Statutes of 2018) target of supplying 100 percent of retail sales of electricity from renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources. However, these build rates are not achievable without additional electrical transmission lines and facilities connecting new resources to consumers in the state’s load centers.
(3) In recent years, California has seen problems in delivering renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources to customers, including problems caused by constraints on the transmission system. First, there are generation pockets where the total potential output from renewable energy generation exceeds the capacity of the transmission system to export that energy. Second, there are load pockets where there is insufficient transmission capacity to import the renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources that are available. Both types of constraints should be promptly fixed so that all available renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources can be delivered to customers.
(4) Reducing the use of nonpreferred resources in disadvantaged communities has been a priority for those communities, and they would benefit from increased access to electricity from new renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources delivered to serve in-city loads.
(5) New transmission facilities have many steps that must be accomplished before they are online and delivering electricity. Major new transmission lines can take more than a decade from initial planning to operation.
(6) New transmission facilities should be planned to support delivery of future renewable energy and zero-carbon resources to load centers, where those resource locations are identified in the integrated resource planning process pursuant to Sections 454.52 and 9621 or as part of longer range planning processes pursuant to Section 454.53.
(7) New transmission facilities should be designed to minimize the risk of transmission-triggered wildfires.
(8) New transmission facilities should be designed to facilitate renewable energy transmission across California to better manage the variability of the electrical supply.
(9) The Independent System Operator has issued a 20-Year Transmission Outlook that identifies substantial additional transmission projects needed to integrate renewable energy resources and storage for retail suppliers within the Independent System Operator balancing authority. Given the scale of this challenge, there is an urgent need to prioritize and accelerate the substantial effort needed to build transmission projects with long development times, while ensuring that associated costs are just and reasonable for ratepayers.
(c) Recognizing that the Independent System Operator’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-approved tariff requires the Independent System Operator to plan and approve new transmission facilities needed to achieve the state’s goals, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Independent System Operator shall take notice of the state policies expressed in this section.
(d) (1) In support of the state’s policy to supply increasing amounts of electricity from renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 and Section 454.53, the commission, in consultation with the Energy Commission, shall provide transmission-focused guidance to the Independent System Operator about resource portfolios of expected future renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources that takes into account uncertainty and optionality, is risk prudent, and supports compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders, including, but not limited to, FERC Order 1920, as later clarified by FERC Order 1920-A and FERC Order 1920-B, as applicable.
(2) In developing the guidance pursuant to paragraph (1) the commission shall do all of the following:
(A) Provide an allocation of the renewable energy and zero-carbon resources by region based on consideration of technical feasibility and commercial interest in each region to allow the Independent System Operator to identify and approve transmission facilities needed to interconnect resources and reliably serve the needs of load centers.
(B) Use methods that enable decisionmaking under uncertainty, such as robust optimization or stochastic optimization, to develop candidate near-term planning decisions.
(C) Evaluate candidate planning decisions via a stress testing process through which the cost and reliability of the electrical system and the implications for future planning decisions and flexibility to support the resource portfolios are assessed, and, in a new or existing proceeding, examine the costs and risks of each candidate planning decision.
(D) (i) Submit at least three resource portfolios to the Independent System Operator that are reflective of risk-prudent, near-term planning decisions and collectively representative of the range of resource procurement trajectories that could be necessary to reliably serve load across a range of plausible futures informed by planning uncertainties, to support the Independent System Operator’s compliance with the requirements of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 1920, as later clarified by FERC Order 1920-A and FERC Order 1920-B, as applicable.
(ii) The commission shall provide the Independent System Operator with relevant load forecasts and resource availability assumptions for each resource portfolio submitted pursuant to clause (i).
(E) Request that the Independent System Operator approve transmission projects that align with this guidance and that the commission finds to be reasonable in supporting any of the resource portfolios submitted pursuant to subparagraph (D).
(F) Ensure that resource portfolios submitted to the Independent System Operator support resources identified as under contract in integrated resource plans submitted pursuant to Section 454.52 and the interconnection of resources of strategic importance to load-serving entities.
(G) Include in this guidance any supplemental or accelerated transmission needs, beyond the requirements of an individual resource portfolio.
(H) Implement this guidance in a manner that ensures rates remain just and reasonable, in accordance with Section 451.
(e) In providing the guidance described in subdivision (d), the commission and the Energy Commission shall provide projections, including from the integrated energy policy report prepared pursuant to Section 25302 of the Public Resources Code and the load-serving entities’ integrated resource plans prepared pursuant to Section 454.52, to support planning and approvals by the Independent System Operator in its transmission planning process, including by doing all of the following:
(1) Providing projections of resource portfolios and electricity demand by region for at least 20 years into the future to ensure adequate lead time for the Independent System Operator to analyze and approve transmission development, and for the permitting and construction of the approved facilities, to meet the projections.
(2) Providing load growth projections, including projected growth from building and transportation electrification, that are consistent with achieving the economywide greenhouse gas emissions reductions required pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code).
(3) Providing projections of new renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources consistent with the build rates necessary to achieve the targets established in Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 and Section 454.53.
(4) (A) Providing resource projections that, combined with transmission capacity expansions, are expected to substantially reduce, no later than 2035, the need to rely on nonpreferred resources in local capacity areas.
(B) The resource projections in subparagraph (A) shall include consideration of cost-effective and feasible alternatives to transmission capacity expansions, including the use of energy storage resources, renewable energy resources, or zero-carbon resources that are located within the local capacity areas.
(5) Providing projections for offshore wind generation as identified by the SB 100 Joint Agency Report of the commission, the Energy Commission, and the State Air Resources Board, and informed by the strategic plan developed pursuant to Section 25991 of the Public Resources Code, to allow the Independent System Operator to identify and approve transmission facilities needed from offshore wind resource areas that would be sufficient to make offshore wind resources fully deliverable to load centers.
(6) Providing projections for increases in imports of electricity into the state that reflect the expected development of renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources in other parts of the Western Interconnection for the purpose of delivering clean energy to California balancing authorities.
(f) On or before January 15, 2023, the commission shall request the Independent System Operator to do both of the following:
(1) Identify, based as much as possible on studies completed before January 1, 2023, by the Independent System Operator and projections provided before January 1, 2023, by the commission and the Energy Commission, the highest priority transmission facilities that are needed to allow for increased transmission capacity into local capacity areas to deliver renewable energy resources or zero-carbon resources that are expected to be developed by 2035 into those areas.
(2) Consider whether to approve transmission projects identified pursuant to paragraph (1) as part of its 2022–23 transmission planning process.
(g) It is the policy of the state that new transmission facilities be built on a timely basis and in anticipation of new electrical generation that will be built to meet the state’s renewable energy resource and zero-carbon resource targets, with interim targets for transmission capacity additions that demonstrate adequate progress toward meeting these long-term transmission needs. The commission shall request that the Independent System Operator implement this policy by approving transmission projects needed based on a longer planning period supported by the guidance provided pursuant to subdivisions (d) and (e). The projects should be approved in time to be online when needed, considering permitting and construction lead times.
(h) It is the policy of the state that planning for new transmission facilities is conducted in a cost-effective and risk-prudent manner and considers all of the following goals:
(1) Minimizing the risk of wildfire.
(2) Increasing systemwide reliability and cost efficiency, including through the sharing of diverse electrical generation resources within California and with other parts of the Western Interconnection.
(3) Supporting the achievement of the state’s energy, climate change, and air quality goals, including, but not limited to, the goals established pursuant to Section 454.53.
(4) Eliminating transmission constraints that prevent electrical generation resources from delivering to the wider electrical grid and that prevent importing energy into load pockets.
(5) Reducing resource interconnection timelines.
(i) For purposes of this section, all of the following definitions apply:
(1) “Load-serving entity” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 380.
(2) “Local capacity area” means a transmission constrained load pocket, as identified by the Independent System Operator, where local generation capacity is needed for reliability due to insufficient transmission capacity into the load pocket to meet electricity demand with electricity from outside of the load pocket.
(3) “Near-term planning decisions” means resource and transmission planning decisions that must be made in the current planning cycle without certainty as to the resolution of planning uncertainties, including, but not limited to, procurement of long lead-time resources, resources that need to be contracted within the succeeding five years, and planning for new transmission facilities with long lead times.
(4) “Nonpreferred resources” means electrical generation resources that are not renewable energy resources or zero-carbon resources pursuant to Section 454.53.
(5) “Planning uncertainties” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 454.51.
(6) “Risk prudent” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 454.51.
SEC. 3.5.
Section 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:454.57.
(a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Accelerating Renewable Energy Delivery Act.(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) The commission, the Energy Commission, and the State Air Resources Board have jointly estimated that the state’s installed electrical generation may need a threefold increase in capacity to meet state carbon-free electricity policy targets.
(2) Recordsetting renewable energy generation build rates are needed to meet the goals of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program and the Senate Bill 100 (Chapter 312 of the Statutes of 2018) target of supplying 100 percent of retail sales of electricity from renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources. However, these build rates are not achievable without additional electrical transmission lines and facilities connecting new resources to consumers in the state’s load centers.
(3) In recent years, California has seen problems in delivering renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources to customers, including problems caused by constraints on the transmission system. First, there are generation pockets where the total potential output from renewable energy generation exceeds the capacity of the transmission system to export that energy. Second, there are load pockets where there is insufficient transmission capacity to import the renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources that are available. Both types of constraints should be promptly fixed so that all available renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources can be delivered to customers.
(4) Reducing the use of nonpreferred resources in disadvantaged communities has been a priority for those communities, and they would benefit from increased access to electricity from new renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources delivered to serve in-city loads.
(5) New transmission facilities have many steps that must be accomplished before they are online and delivering electricity. Major new transmission lines can take more than a decade from initial planning to operation.
(6) New transmission facilities should be planned to support delivery of future renewable energy and zero-carbon resources to load centers, where those resource locations are identified in the integrated resource planning process pursuant to Sections 454.52 and 9621 or as part of longer range planning processes pursuant to Section 454.53.
(7) New transmission facilities should be designed to minimize the risk of transmission-triggered wildfires.
(8) New transmission facilities should be designed to facilitate renewable energy transmission across California to better manage the variability of the electrical supply.
(9) The Independent System Operator has issued a 20-Year Transmission Outlook that identifies substantial additional transmission projects needed to integrate renewable energy resources and storage for retail suppliers within the Independent System Operator balancing authority. Given the scale of this challenge, there is an urgent need to prioritize and accelerate the substantial effort needed to build transmission projects with long development times, while ensuring that associated costs are just and reasonable for ratepayers.
(c) Recognizing that the Independent System Operator’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-approved tariff requires the Independent System Operator to plan and approve new transmission facilities needed to achieve the state’s goals, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Independent System Operator shall take notice of the state policies expressed in this section.
(d) (1) In support of the state’s policy to supply increasing amounts of electricity from renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 and Section 454.53, the commission, in consultation with the Energy Commission, shall provide transmission-focused guidance to the Independent System Operator about resource portfolios of expected future renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources that takes into account uncertainty and optionality, is risk prudent, and supports compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders, including, but not limited to, FERC Order 1920, as later clarified by FERC Order 1920-A and FERC Order 1920-B, as applicable.
(2) In developing the guidance pursuant to paragraph (1) the commission shall do all of the following:
(A) Provide an allocation of the renewable energy and zero-carbon resources by region based on consideration of technical feasibility and commercial interest in each region to allow the Independent System Operator to identify and approve transmission facilities needed to interconnect resources and reliably serve the needs of load centers.
(B) Use methods that enable decisionmaking under uncertainty, such as robust optimization or stochastic optimization, to develop candidate near-term planning decisions.
(C) Evaluate candidate planning decisions via a stress testing process through which the cost and reliability of the electrical system and the implications for future planning decisions and flexibility to support the resource portfolios are assessed, and, in a new or existing proceeding, examine the costs and risks of each candidate planning decision.
(D) (i) Submit at least three resource portfolios to the Independent System Operator that are reflective of risk-prudent, near-term planning decisions and collectively representative of the range of resource procurement trajectories that could be necessary to reliably serve load across a range of plausible futures informed by planning uncertainties, to support the Independent System Operator’s compliance with the requirements of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 1920, as later clarified by FERC Order 1920-A and FERC Order 1920-B, as applicable.
(ii) The commission shall provide the Independent System Operator with relevant load forecasts and resource availability assumptions for each resource portfolio submitted pursuant to clause (i).
(E) Request that the Independent System Operator approve transmission projects that align with this guidance and that the commission finds to be reasonable in supporting any of the resource portfolios submitted pursuant to subparagraph (D).
(F) Ensure that resource portfolios submitted to the Independent System Operator support resources identified as under contract in integrated resource plans submitted pursuant to Section 454.52 and the interconnection of resources of strategic importance to load-serving entities.
(G) Include in this guidance any supplemental or accelerated transmission needs, beyond the requirements of an individual resource portfolio.
(H) Implement this guidance in a manner that ensures rates remain just and reasonable, in accordance with Section 451.
(3) The commission and Energy Commission shall identify cost-effective opportunities to enable planned or operating energy-only resources to obtain deliverability through transmission capacity expansions and shall request the Independent System Operator to reserve associated deliverability for geothermal and wind in the Independent System Operator’s balancing authority area for this purpose.
(4) For purposes of the Independent System Operator’s scoring in its interconnection process, the commission shall designate energy-only resources as long lead-time resources, using criteria consistent with its designation of long lead-time deliverable resources, as applicable.
(e) In providing the guidance described in subdivision (d), the commission and the Energy Commission shall provide projections, including from the integrated energy policy report prepared pursuant to Section 25302 of the Public Resources Code and the load-serving entities’ integrated resource plans prepared pursuant to Section 454.52, to support planning and approvals by the Independent System Operator in its transmission planning process, including by doing all of the following:
(1) Providing projections of resource portfolios and electricity demand by region for at least 20 years into the future to ensure adequate lead time for the Independent System Operator to analyze and approve transmission development, and for the permitting and construction of the approved facilities, to meet the projections.
(2) Providing load growth projections, including projected growth from building and transportation electrification, that are consistent with achieving the economywide greenhouse gas emissions reductions required pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code).
(3) Providing projections of new renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources consistent with the build rates necessary to achieve the targets established in Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 and Section 454.53.
(4) (A) Providing resource projections that, combined with transmission capacity expansions, are expected to substantially reduce, no later than 2035, the need to rely on nonpreferred resources in local capacity areas.
(B) The resource projections in subparagraph (A) shall include consideration of cost-effective and feasible alternatives to transmission capacity expansions, including the use of energy storage resources, renewable energy resources, or zero-carbon resources that are located within the local capacity areas.
(5) Providing projections for offshore wind generation as identified by the SB 100 Joint Agency Report of the commission, the Energy Commission, and the State Air Resources Board, and informed by the strategic plan developed pursuant to Section 25991 of the Public Resources Code, to allow the Independent System Operator to identify and approve transmission facilities needed from offshore wind resource areas that would be sufficient to make offshore wind resources fully deliverable to load centers.
(6) Providing projections for increases in imports of electricity into the state that reflect the expected development of renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources in other parts of the Western Interconnection for the purpose of delivering clean energy to California balancing authorities.
(f) On or before January 15, 2023, the commission shall request the Independent System Operator to do both of the following:
(1) Identify, based as much as possible on studies completed before January 1, 2023, by the Independent System Operator and projections provided before January 1, 2023, by the commission and the Energy Commission, the highest priority transmission facilities that are needed to allow for increased transmission capacity into local capacity areas to deliver renewable energy resources or zero-carbon resources that are expected to be developed by 2035 into those areas.
(2) Consider whether to approve transmission projects identified pursuant to paragraph (1) as part of its 2022–23 transmission planning process.
(g) It is the policy of the state that new transmission facilities be built on a timely basis and in anticipation of new electrical generation that will be built to meet the state’s renewable energy resource and zero-carbon resource targets, with interim targets for transmission capacity additions that demonstrate adequate progress toward meeting these long-term transmission needs. The commission shall request that the Independent System Operator implement this policy by approving transmission projects needed based on a longer planning period supported by the guidance provided pursuant to subdivisions (d) and (e). The projects should be approved in time to be online when needed, considering permitting and construction lead times.
(h) It is the policy of the state that planning for new transmission facilities is conducted in a cost-effective and risk-prudent manner and considers all of the following goals:
(1) Minimizing the risk of wildfire.
(2) Increasing systemwide reliability and cost efficiency, including through the sharing of diverse electrical generation resources within California and with other parts of the Western Interconnection.
(3) Supporting the achievement of the state’s energy, climate change, and air quality goals, including, but not limited to, the goals established pursuant to Section 454.53.
(4) Eliminating transmission constraints that prevent electrical generation resources from delivering to the wider electrical grid and that prevent importing energy into load pockets.
(5) Reducing resource interconnection timelines.
(i) For purposes of this section, all of the following definitions apply:
(1) “Load-serving entity” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 380.
(2) “Local capacity area” means a transmission constrained load pocket, as identified by the Independent System Operator, where local generation capacity is needed for reliability due to insufficient transmission capacity into the load pocket to meet electricity demand with electricity from outside of the load pocket.
(3) “Near-term planning decisions” means resource and transmission planning decisions that must be made in the current planning cycle without certainty as to the resolution of planning uncertainties, including, but not limited to, procurement of long lead-time resources, resources that need to be contracted within the succeeding five years, and planning for new transmission facilities with long lead times.
(4) “Nonpreferred resources” means electrical generation resources that are not renewable energy resources or zero-carbon resources pursuant to Section 454.53.
(5) “Planning uncertainties” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 454.51.
(6) “Risk prudent” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 454.51.
SEC. 4.
Section 3.5 of this bill incorporates amendments to Section 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by both this bill and Assembly Bill 2369. That section of this bill shall only become operative if (1) both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2027, (2) each bill amends Section 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code, and (3) this bill is enacted after Assembly Bill 2369, in which case Section 3 of this bill shall not become operative.SEC. 5.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.Text of AB 2111 as enrolled, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions