PG&E Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report 2020

Plan of Reorganization Commitments

Renewable Energy

PG&E remains committed to meeting California’s evolving clean energy policies and standards, which we are working to achieve by delivering some of the nation’s cleanest energy, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, and providing safe and reliable energy, all while working to keep service affordable for customers.

Clean energy plays a foundational role in the transition to a decarbonized economy, and PG&E strongly supports California’s clean energy policies, renewable goals and efforts to limit and adapt to climate change. These policies and investments have created a robust renewable energy market in California and have contributed to substantial greenhouse gas emissions reductions from the electric sector.

Our Approach

Approved in 2003, California’s Energy Action Plan establishes a “loading order” that prioritizes energy efficiency, demand response and renewable energy over using fossil fuels to meet customer demand.

In September 2018, SB 100 was signed into law, increasing California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) target to 60 percent by December 31, 2030, and establishing a new statute that sets a policy of meeting 100 percent of retail sales from eligible renewables or zero-carbon resources by December 31, 2045. Additionally, a state Executive Order directs all sectors of the California economy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and to be net greenhouse gas negative thereafter. PG&E is committed to meeting California’s vision for a sustainable energy future in a reliable and cost-effective manner for customers.

In recent years, the dynamics of California’s energy landscape have changed, highlighted by the expansion of retail customer choice and the growth of distributed generation, such as private rooftop solar. These dynamics have affected PG&E’s renewables portfolio, allowing us to shift from a focus on incremental procurement to now managing and optimizing our existing portfolio, including through the sales of excess renewable energy. This ultimately influences our end-of-year RPS position.

Reflecting California’s changing energy landscape, the CPUC approved in 2018 several key elements of a joint proposal with labor and environmental organizations that would phase out PG&E’s production of nuclear power in California by 2025 while still meeting California’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Measuring Progress

In 2019, nearly 30 percent of our delivered electricity came from RPS-eligible sources, including solar, wind, geothermal, small hydroelectric, and various forms of bioenergy. We continue to deliver some of the nation’s cleanest energy, and we are well on our way to meet the state’s 60 percent by 2030 renewable energy mandate.

California measures a retail seller’s RPS compliance using multi-year compliance periods. While PG&E’s renewable energy percentage decreased in 2019, we are well-positioned to meet our RPS compliance requirements for the current compliance period. Our RPS percentage was lower in 2019 because we sold surplus RPS energy, which reduces the costs of the RPS portfolio. PG&E passes these savings through to our customers.

The chart below shows our overall electricity supply mix for 2019, which included the energy that PG&E generated, energy that PG&E purchased from third parties on behalf of customers, and energy that PG&E sold back into wholesale markets.

For 2019, PG&E is reporting our electricity generated and procured as a percent of retail sales using two different methodologies: one depicting actual procurement and the other using the method required by the California Energy Commission (CEC) for the Power Content Label.

PG&E’s 2019 Electric Power Mix Delivered to Retail Customers Footnote 1
  Percent of Bundled Retail Sales (actual procurement) Percent of Bundled Retail Sales (Power Content Label)
Eligible Renewable 29.7% 27.4%
Fossil fuel-fired 36.6% 0.0%
Nuclear 45.0% 41.7%
Large Hydroelectric 33.3% 30.9%
Others, Net Footnote 2, Footnote 3 (44.6)% 0.0%
  • 1. Numbers may not add up to 100 due to rounding.1
  • 2. The allocation of bundled retail sale amounts and “Others, Net” in the “Power Content Label” column is consistent with current California Energy Commission guidelines, applied to specified electric generation and procurement volumes (i.e., fossil fuel-fired, nuclear, large hydroelectric, and renewable). Total reported generation and procurement volumes equate to actual electric retail sales.2
  • 3. Amount is mainly comprised of net California Independent System Operator open market (sales)/purchases.3
Composition of PG&E’s 2019 Total Eligible Renewable Resource Footnote 1
Total 29.7%
Solar 12.7%
Wind 9.5%
Geothermal 1.5%
Biomass and Waste 3.7%
Eligible Hydroelectric 2.3%
  • 1. As defined in Senate Bill 1078, which created California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard, and Senate Bill 1038, which modified the definition of “in-state renewable electricity generation technology,” an eligible renewable resource includes geothermal facilities, hydroelectric facilities with a capacity rating of 30 MW or less, biomass and biogas, selected municipal solid waste facilities, photovoltaic, solar thermal, and wind facilities, ocean thermal, tidal current, and wave energy generation technologies. These figures are preliminary and will not be finalized until verified by the California Energy Commission.1