ACCELERATING CARBON REDUCTIONS FROM CALIFORNIA’S ELECTRICITY SECTOR

This report by Energy Innovation proposes a shift in California's energy policy to accelerate carbon reductions in the electricity sector to meet 2030 and 2050 greenhouse gas targets. The authors recommend replacing the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) with a performance-based carbon standard and reforming energy efficiency incentives by transitioning to per capita intensity standards for electricity and natural gas.

• The authors recommend that California implement a system-wide carbon standard by 2030, set at 393lb. CO2e/MWh (or 48.9MMT CO2e), to align utility incentives with the state's 2050 carbon targets.
• To maintain investment signals for renewable energy developers while transitioning to a carbon standard, the report proposes a 50 percent renewable energy procurement "backbone" by 2030.
• The report suggests that a more aggressive "Target Case" carbon standard of 321lb. CO2e/MWh by 2030 could be achieved at neutral cost, with additional costs offset by fuel savings, reduced operation costs, and carbon emission credits.
• The authors argue for the expansion of the Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) into a West-wide electricity market to increase geographical diversity of resources and reduce the need for costly peaking generators.
• The report recommends reforming resource procurement to allow demand-side, distributed, and centralized low-carbon resources to compete on equal footing for providing carbon reductions and flexibility.
• The current Efficiency Savings and Performance Incentive (ESPI) is criticized for being complex, opaque, and based on conservative goals that are divorced from the state's long-term decarbonization targets.
• To replace the ESPI, the authors propose a performance-based energy standard for electricity (kWh/capita) targeting an annual reduction of approximately 1.2 percent through 2030.
• The report suggests a comparable per capita standard for natural gas (therms/capita) to incentivize building electrification and the decarbonization of the gas supply.
• The authors recommend that the kWh/capita standard include an adjustment mechanism for electric vehicle (EV) load growth to ensure utilities are not disincentivized from pursuing EV adoption.
• The report calls for the expedited implementation of AB 758 (Comprehensive Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings law) and suggests introducing mandatory retrofit policies if voluntary progress is insufficient.

APA

Orvis, R., O’Boyle, M., Aggarwal, S., & Harvey, H. (2015). ACCELERATING CARBON REDUCTIONS FROM CALIFORNIA’S ELECTRICITY SECTOR. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015_CA_ElectricityPolicy_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Orvis, Robbie, Michael O’Boyle, Sonia Aggarwal, and Hal Harvey. ACCELERATING CARBON REDUCTIONS FROM CALIFORNIA’S ELECTRICITY SECTOR. Energy Innovation, 2015. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015_CA_ElectricityPolicy_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Orvis |first1=Robbie |last2=O’Boyle |first2=Michael |last3=Aggarwal |first3=Sonia |last4=Harvey |first4=Hal |title=ACCELERATING CARBON REDUCTIONS FROM CALIFORNIA’S ELECTRICITY SECTOR |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=March 2015 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015_CA_ElectricityPolicy_FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{orvis2015accelerating, author = {Orvis, Robbie and O’Boyle, Michael and Aggarwal, Sonia and Harvey, Hal}, title = {{ACCELERATING CARBON REDUCTIONS FROM CALIFORNIA’S ELECTRICITY SECTOR}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2015}, month = mar, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015_CA_ElectricityPolicy_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }