Utility Dive Quotes Seth Hilton on Challenge Facing CPUC in Getting Supply-Side Resources Online in Time to Help Meet Summer 2022 California Energy Needs

Energy attorney Seth Hilton was quoted in Utility Dive in an article titled “California proposes demand response, other measures to shore up summer grid reliability,” published November 2, 2021. The article discusses a suite of proposals issued by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) intended to help California meet its energy needs for the summers of 2022 and 2023.

After the 2020 heatwave in California, CPUC began implementing several measures to help ensure grid reliability during the summer in the state, and the commission also opened a proceeding to pursue an adequate energy supply for the summer of 2021, which it extended to cover the summers of 2022 and 2023. CPUC is considering several demand- and supply-side proposals, but Hilton said that in part due to interconnection timelines, California could face challenges in getting the latter resources online in time to be of much help, especially for 2022.

“Speeding up permitting isn’t going to help if a project isn’t going to be interconnected anyway,” he said.