The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday voted to approve an 11.5 GW procurement package composed entirely of clean energy resources that will come online in the middle of the decade, marking its largest-ever capacity procurement ordered at once.
The new resources are intended to prepare the state for more extreme weather and help replace the 2.2 GW Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which will be shuttered by 2025 and 3.7 GW of natural gas plants that are also slated to retire soon.
“This is a landmark decision. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to describe it as such,” CPUC Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen said at the Thursday meeting. “This is enough to power about 2.5 million households in the state, and all this will be coming from renewable or zero-emitting resources,” he added.
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