Power Generation

California has unveiled plans to boost its renewables target and establish an electric car network in San Francisco.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an executive order that aims to streamline the approval process for renewables projects and increase the state’s target to 33% renewable power by 2020.

“I am proposing we set the most aggressive target in the nation for renewable energy – 33% by the year 2020 – that’s a third of our energy from sources like solar, wind and geothermal,” he said.

Business as usual won’t be sufficient to make the target, he says, and will require that the red tape for new plants and transmissions lines is removed.

“Environmental regulations are holding up environmental progress in some cases,” he said.

The new measures will aim to create a ‘one-stop’ permitting process. The Renewable Energy Action Plan – which is a collaboration between the California Energy Commission and the California Department of Fish and Game – will review applications, expedite permits from other governmental agencies and prioritise areas of California ripe for renewables development.

Schwarzenegger has also lent his support to joint plan between the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland and local transportation company Better Place to establish a new $1 billion electric car infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“This type of public-private partnership is exactly what I envisioned when we created the first ever low carbon fuel standard and when the state enacted the zero emissions vehicle program,” he said.

Better Place, which is running similar projects in Australia, Israel and Denmark, plans to invest a total of $1 billion to install electric vehicle charging points in car parks, homes and buildings, as well as work with authorities to coordinate regulations, programmes and incentives across the region.

Incentives will be offered to companies to install charging points in their car parks and all governmental buildings will have to have charging outlets. A roll-out plan for on-street charging points will also be developed.

The first electric cars will be commercially available in 2012, according to Better Place, and programmes will be set up to encourage fleet purchases for government departments and the private sector.

“Our aim is to make the Bay Area – and eventually California – the electric vehicle capital of the US,” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

For further information:
gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/11073/
www.sfgov.org/site/mayor_index.asp
www.betterplace.com/