Clean Energy Policy in California: The Future of the Grid

At the February 26th Business for Clean Energy breakfast at Redwood Credit Union Jason Simon, Director of Policy Strategy at Enphase Energy, spoke about some of the big changes in California energy policy and technology development and how these forces are reshaping the grid. He pointed out that there is already a bill in the state legislature SB 350 that would codify the Governor’s recently announced goals of increasing the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to 50% of generation, decreasing the use of petroleum by 50% and increasing efficiency for existing homes by 50%.

He suggested that the following are some changes that we can expect to see in the coming years as the result of these policies and new technologies like those that Enphase has developed:

• A forced changed in the utility business models
• With more renewable penetration on the grid an increased need for “flexibility,” including storage, demand response and better management of power quality.
• A change in rate structure, impacting solar net metering including both fixed and variable costs and opportunities for customers to sell power and services back to the utilities.

 The slides to Mr. Simon’s presentation>