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Governor Newsom signs proclamation to expedite clean energy projects
Environment Jul 30, 2021
|Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore, Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Governor Gavin Newsom signed an emergency proclamation that will free up energy supply to meet demand during extreme heat events and wildfires. Newsom also outlined Friday the state’s goals to reach a 100% clean electricity system that supports long-term clean energy reliability.
“California leads the nation with its ambitious clean energy goals, and with the climate crisis threatening communities across the West,” Newsom said. “While we build toward a safe, affordable and reliable energy future that benefits all our communities, we’re also taking action to meet the challenges caused by climate change that are already at our doorstep.”
Newsom signed the emergency proclamation to safeguard the state’s energy system this summer by launching programs that will reduce demand and increase supply. This will also expedite clean energy projects that will aim to meet the challenge of rapidly increasing temperatures and severe drought conditions.
The California Comeback Plan’s roadmap to clean energy aims to:
- Increase the diversity of the state’s clean energy;
- Modernize the state’s grid and incorporate distributed energy resources;
- Increase long-duration energy storage projects;
- Grid hardening and resiliency to make transmission and distribution lines more fire resistant;
- Reduce carbon emissions through electrification of our transportation systems, homes and businesses.
The proclamation suspends certain permitting requirements to allow more energy production, creates incentives to get large energy users to move to back-up power generation, and it provides for mitigation to offset impacts from any other emissions.
The proclamation will also commit state agencies to tracking emissions from any emergency measures requiring additional emissions. It includes actions to accelerate the state’s transition to clean electricity by streamlining permitting and other processes to bring new resources. The goal is to get more resources on-line in order to prepare for next summer.
In the last month, Newsom has also signed a housing and homelessness package and an education package.
