Aging Transmission Infrastructure

California's population is expected to reach 60 million by 2025, putting an enormous strain on an energy infrastructure that the California Energy Commission (CEC) already warns may be unable to meet the state's future energy needs. The state's most critical energy infrastructure issue is its electric transmission system, which over time has lost system reliability and is increasing its operational costs. In 2008, congestion and related reliability services cost Californians approximately $232 million, up from $221 million in 2007, according to the Cal-ISO Market Issues and Performance 2008 Annual Report.

California's investment in transmission infrastructure has not kept up with its electricity demand growth. In fact, no new interstate transmission facilities have been built since the early 1990s. Currently, the state is relying on only three main transmission lines - two of which are nearly half a century old - to meet ever-increasing electricity needs for its growing population.

California also needs new transmission lines to access renewable energy. According to the CPUC, currently about 15 percent of California's energy is from renewable energy resources, but the requirement of California's Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) is to have at least 20 percent come from these sources by 2013, and 33 percent come from these sources by 2020. To meet the state's RPS target of 33 percent by 2020, the California Public Utilities Commission estimates that 11 new transmission lines will be needed, at an estimated cost of $16 billion. Only three of these needed lines are currently going through the permitting process.

Additionally, more than 20,000 MW of installed generation capacity in California are designated as once-through cooling units. The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has developed a draft policy that could require these units to be retired due to environmental concerns, which would potentially have an adverse impact on California's electric grid. The CEC, the California Independent System Operator and the CPUC are individually and jointly examining options and alternatives for addressing the draft policy and solutions to reliability issues that could result. It is expected that both new generation and additional transmission facilities will be required to replace the once-through cooling generating units.

According to the CEC, "inadequate transmission infrastructure" needed to connect remotely-located renewable resources is one of the top five barriers to achieving the state's RPS and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. More information about these sources can be found on the Renewable Energy Resources page.

Suffice to say, the magnitude of the infrastructure that California has to plan, permit, procure, develop and connect with the state's electricity power grid in the next decade to meet the RPS target of 33 percent is unprecedented. Using past practices as a guide, the scale of transmission and generation build-out will take at least 10-15 years, if implementation were to start now.

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