This news is classified in: Sustainable Energy Energy Efficiency
May 5, 2020
If California is to reach its renewable energy and emission targets as quickly and inexpensively as possible, some key policy issues will need to be addressed. Energy experts will explain the issues as outlined in an updated white paper during a webinar, Advancing California’s Faster, Cheaper Path to 100% Renewable Power, to be hosted by Wärtsilä on 5 May. The webinar is the second in a series that is part of the Path to 100% initiative, a global effort to build a community of experts who support moving toward 100% renewable energy. The white paper also details how California can reach its renewable electricity target by 2040 instead of its current goal of 2045; these findings were initially discussed in the first webinar of the series, held in March. The May webinar addresses policy considerations and answers questions arising from the first webinar.
The policy recommendations to be discussed among expert panellists and guests include:
In response to questions raised during the last webinar, Wärtsilä also added a scenario to the white paper which models using excess clean power to produce hydrogen, which could then be used as a carbon-free fuel in flexible power plants.
The results of the modelling work by Wärtsilä show that for California, the fastest, least-cost path to 100% clean energy involves expanding wind and solar generation while adding fast starting, flexible generation plants that can burn gas now, and use synthetic renewable fuels from power-to-hydrogen and power-to-methane processes as those technologies advance.