SDG&E recently indicated it would support allowing gas capacity upgrades at existing sites to count toward the 11.5 GW procurement previously ordered by the CPUC. At that time, the Commission hailed the procurement package — approved amid the threat of more extreme weather as well as the upcoming retirements of the 2.2 GW Diablo Canyon nuclear plant and 3.7 GW of natural gas plants — as a “new, clean reliability foundation” for California. However, the CPUC also issued a staff paper that looked into the potential of using gas capacity upgrades to address reliability risks highlighted by two areas of concern — the possibility that California’s aging gas fleet could retire earlier than expected, as well as the risk that the state could be over-relying on battery storage. Clean energy advocates slammed the idea of allowing gas capacity upgrades to count toward the 11.5 GW order.
