Has California banned the use of coal fired power plants for all future long term contracts? It would seem as if they have with their new emissions based contracting policy. All new long term power sources contracted to provide energy for the state must have emissions lower than that of a combined cycle natural gas power plant. The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Friday January 25th, adopted an interim Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Performance Standard in an effort to help mitigate climate change.

The Emissions Performance Standard is a facility-based emissions standard requiring that all new long-term commitments for baseload generation to serve California consumers be with power plants that have emissions no greater than a combined cycle gas turbine plant. That level is established at 1,100 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour. “New long-term commitment” refers to new plant investments (new construction), new or renewal contracts with a term of five years or more, or major investments by the utility in its existing baseload power plants.

The PUC’s actions implement Senate Bill (SB) 1368 (pdf) (Perata), which prohibits load-serving entities (investor-owned utilities, energy service providers, community choice aggregators) from entering into long-term financial commitments for baseload generation unless it complies with a GHG emissions performance standard.

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