California renewable portfolio standard

The Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) is one of California’s key programs for advancing renewable energy. The program sets continuously escalating renewable energy procurement requirements for the state’s load-serving entities. Generation must be procured from RPS-certified facilities. The California Energy Commission verifies RPS claims.

Announcements

With the approaching end of the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Compliance Period (CP) 4 (2021-2024), California Energy Commission (CEC) staff are providing a courtesy reminder of some of the reporting and compliance requirements. POUs are responsible for meeting all RPS procurement, compliance, and reporting requirements, as detailed in the RPS Eligibility Guidebook, Ninth Edition (Revised) (RPS Guidebook) and the Modifications of Regulations Specifying Enforcement Procedures for the Renewables Portfolio Standard for Local Publicly Owned Electric Utilities (RPS POU Regulations).

Annual Reporting Requirement

Annual reporting requirements are due the first weekday of July. Please make sure all the following documents, if required for WREGIS claims, have been submitted to the RPS Online System. Without these documents, the Verification and Compliance team are unable to complete the analysis and reports for CP 4. For guidance and instructions on the documents required, please refer to the RPS – Verification and Compliance page.

YearReport
2021 - 2024Annual Summary Report
2021 - 2024WREGIS Report
2021 -2024Newly executed and amended POU Contracts
2021 - 2024WREGIS CA e-Tag Report (POUs with non-CBA PCC 1 or 2 claims)
2021 - 2024CEC Schedule 3 e-Tag Report (POUs with non-CBA PCC 1 or 2 claims not tracked in WREGIS)
2021 - 2024CEC Schedule 4 Hourly Report (POUs with non-CBA PCC 1 claims)

Long Term Contract Requirement

Pursuant to Public Utilities (PUC) Code Section 399.13(b), CP 4, and subsequent CPs, includes a Long-Term Procurement Requirement requiring that 65% of an LSE’s RPS procurement shall be from long-term procurement. Long-term procurement refers to procurement from long-term contracts, ownership, or ownership agreements, as specified in Section 3204(d) of the RPS POU Regulations and further discussed in the Regulatory Advisory RPS POU 2022-09-21.

Optional Compliance Measures

Each POU should ensure its Optional Compliance Measures (OCMs), listed in table below, are up-to-date and have been adopted at a noticed public meeting of the governing board of the POU prior to the end of CP 4, consistent with RPS POU Regulations Section 3205 and 3206. OCM rules adopted under RPS POU Regulations Section 3206 shall be in place and described in a POU’s renewable energy resources procurement plan or enforcement program for a given compliance period if the POU intends to rely on these rules to satisfy or delay its RPS procurement requirements.

Optional Compliance MeasureRelevant Code Section
Delay of Timely ComplianceRPS POU Regulations Sections 3205 (a)-(b), 3206 (a)(2), 3206 (b)-(e)
Cost LimitationRPS POU Regulations Sections 3205 (a)-(b), 3206(a)(3), 3206 (b)-(e)
Portfolio Balance ReductionRPS POU Regulations Sections 3205 (a)-(b), 3206 (a)(4), 3206 (b)-(d), 3206 (f)

If you have any questions for CEC staff regarding this announcement, please email rpstrack@energy.ca.gov .