California’s Renewable Energy Policy in Electricity Generation: from Deregulation to Climate Change Legislation

Abstract

The present work analyzes California’s renewable energy policy in electricity generation. Specifically, the focus is the state-regulated electric utility industry, historically the largest supplier of residential and industrial power, and the development of the state’s policy during the period encompassing the deregulation of the electricity industry in 1996 through the passage of climate-change landmark legislation in 2006. Shaped by the energy problems and policies of the precedent two decades, the 1990s and early 2000s saw a number of actions that either contrasted or anticipated national policy and helped establish California’s domestic and international standing in energy, environmental, and climate policy. Though often groundbreaking, the state’s policies yielded contrasting results including significant challenges. For instance, the state gained global notoriety for its bold but unfortunate electricity deregulatory approach, which contributed to the regional electricity “crisis” at the turn of the century. On the other hand, the West Coast state received international attention and a global reputation with the passage of landmark climate-change legislation. In roughly one decade, California showed a notable reversal in its energy policy direction. Overall, this work explores a dynamic process at the start of which policymakers favored less regulation and more open markets that concluded with actions that aimed to correct the effects of underregulated energy markets have on environmental and climate change. The choice of a state-level approach, albeit against the national energy policy backdrop, is called for by the coexistence and complementation of state and federal energy policies as well as, at times, their remarkable divergences and conflicts. Thus this paper qualitatively explores, in three chapters, the progression of California’s renewable electric energy policy in connection to economic, political, and social factors. More importantly, it addresses renewable energy strategies motivated by state and federally relevant issues of energy security and reliability, environmental degradation, and climate change concerns during the above-stated time span.