Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) just announced that the Northern and Central California utility serving 15 million people handily exceeded the state's 2013 renewable portfolio standard of 20 percent. The utility generated 22.5 percent of its power from "eligible" renewable energy sources in 2013.
Last year, PG&E was at 19 percent, while fellow California investor-owned utilities San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison hit 20.3 percent and 19.9 percent, respectively, as per the California PUC Renewable Portfolio Standard database.
Here is PG&E's 2013 renewables report card:
Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)
Large hydro is not included in the utility's RPS calculation, nor is the nearly 1,000 megawatts of distributed solar installed in its territory. The source of nuclear power is the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County.
We spoke with Denny Boyles, a PG&E spokesperson, this morning. He noted that 11 percent of the energy mix is from intermittent solar and wind. Boyles said, "Everyday we're learning more and more on how to better integrate [renewables]."
The PG&E spokesperson pointed out that although the RPS had been increasing steadily and gradually, the road to 33 percent will be taken in bigger jumps as large projects such as the 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight Solar Farm come on-line in the next few years. (Here's an SEIA map of large solar projects in the U.S.)
PG&E has signed 155 contracts for more than 10 gigawatts of eligible renewable power since 2012.