Governor's Executive Order Boosting Renewable Energy to 33% Will Work for California and the West, Industry Association Says

September 15 - Sacramento, CA Representing the US geothermal power industry, the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) supports Governor Schwarzenegger's Executive Order to boost California's renewable energy power standard to 33% by 2020. "GEA fully supports the Governor's initiative to boost the state's renewable energy goal," Karl Gawell, GEA's Executive Director said. "We believe that the Governor has crafted an RPS strategy that avoids the unnecessary delivery restrictions and complexity of the bills that he has vetoed. As a result, the Governor's Executive Order works not just for California, but also for all the other western states that are trying to bring more renewable energy online in the next 10 years."

Geothermal power is California's most productive renewable resource (excluding large hydropower, which the state does not categorize as renewable), providing over 40% of the state's renewable power in 2008. "There are thousands of megawatts of additional geothermal energy that can be developed in California and nearby states to help achieve or even exceed the 33% goal announced today by the Governor,” Gawell added.

According to John McCaull, GEA’s Western States Representative, "Recent studies have shown that the most cost-effective system for achieving the renewable portfolio standards adopted by states such as California and Nevada is to recognize that project location, environmental concerns, grid reliability, cost containment, and transmission planning require that we look at all available resource options." In June 2009, several western states and the Western Governor’s Association (WGA) simultaneously released long-awaited studies pointing to geothermal energy as one of the nation’s most cost-effective and reliable renewable energy resources that should be given priority as an expanded electricity transmission grid is planned.

Following those studies, McCaull submitted formal analysis and comments from GEA on how California can meet near-term RPS requirements through an increased reliance on geothermal energy in a report to the state's Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (RETI) process. GEA’s August 2009 comments entitled Ensuring Reliable, Baseload Renewable Energy For The West By 2015 are available at: http://www.geo-energy.org/publications/reports/GEA_Final_Comments_RETI_Phase_2A_Report.pdf

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