Senator Padilla’s Legislation to Accelerate and Modernize California’s Aging Grid Clears Major Hurdle
SACRAMENTO – This week, Senator Steve Padilla’s (D-San Diego) legislation to accelerate California’s efforts to approve energy transmission projects, Senate Bill 619, passed both the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee with bipartisan support.
“California’s ambitious clean energy goals set an example for the rest of the world. But, our clean energy goals are only one piece of the equation,” said Senator Padilla. “We must turn our focus to modernizing the system of delivery for the clean energy we generate. If we rely on the grid of the past, we will not be able to build the energy supply of the future.”
California will need to spend billions in new transmission infrastructure investments in the next decade to meet our existing targets. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) estimates California will require thousands of megawatts of new transmission capacity every year during that time. Meeting this unprecedented demand will require California to simultaneously accelerate planning, siting, permitting, and construction of a modern electrical grid, while carefully managing its costs.
Despite the overwhelming need to expand our electrical grid, the California Public Utilities Commission has not authorized a new transmission project in over a decade. The current process requires multiple agencies, duplicative analyses, and permitting processes that take years to complete and create unnecessary cost overruns and substantial delays.
Current transmission projects are delayed by almost 5 years and have run up tens of millions of dollars in extra costs. Absent substantial changes to the state’s current planning and permitting processes, California will not meet its visionary climate goals and the state’s fragile energy grid will experience unprecedented strain.
SB 619 would expand upon last year’s AB 205 authorizing the California Energy Commission (CEC) to certify transmission projects that cost over $250 million. The measure is a piece of much larger and overdue conversation happening throughout the state on how California can meet its climate goals, deliver reliable power to homes and businesses, manage costs and add transparency to modernizing California’s electrical grid.
“SB 619 will enact significant reform in accelerating the approval and build out of large new transmission lines by consolidating environmental reviews and permitting at the California Energy Commission,” said V. John White, Legislative Director for Clean Power Campaign. “Without new transmission, there can be no transition to clean energy.”
SB 619 passed both the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee unanimously. The bill now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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Steve Padilla represents the 18th Senate District, which includes the communities of Chula Vista, the Coachella Valley, Imperial Beach, the Imperial Valley, National City, and San Diego. Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, Senator Padilla was the first person of color ever elected to city office in Chula Vista, the first Latino Mayor, and the first openly LGBT person to serve or be elected to city office. Website of Senator Steve Padilla: https://sd18.senate.ca.gov/