The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) request to retire Diablo Canyon in San Luis Obispo by 2025.
It is the state’s last remaining nuclear power plant.
Diablo Canyon's two pressurized water reactors (PWRs) entered commercial operation in 1984 (unit 1, 1138 MWe) and 1985 (unit 2, 1118 MWe). They are the only remaining nuclear capacity in California following the premature retirement in 2013 of units 2 and 3 at Southern California Edison's San Onofre plant. San Onofre unit 1, a single PWR, operated from 1968 to 1992, while the single-unit Rancho Seco PWR plant was closed in 1989 in response to a local referendum, held shortly after the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine.
The action is part of the California’s long-term renewable energy strategy.
Separately, the commission asked PG&E to determine if storage and/or other alternatives to fossil fuel could replace three gas-fired peaking plants. The CPUC authorized PG&E to recover $242.2 million in costs associated with its retirement, most of which will go towards employ retention.
And CPUC approved 15 transportation-electrification pilot projects totaling over $40 million aimed at helping accelerate electric vehicle (EV) adoption and cutting greenhouse-gases (GHGs) in the state.
CPUC explains the decision approves, with modifications, four Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) projects; five Southern California Edison (SCE) projects; and six San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) projects designed to speed adoption of EVs, improve air quality, and reduce GHG emissions. Representing a total investment of approximately $41 million, the projects include electrification of school buses, delivery trucks, airport/seaport equipment, truck stops, and commuter locations, as well as the installation of fast charging for urban locations and incentives for car dealerships. Additionally, $1.7 million will be set aside for evaluation of the projects upon their completion.
CPUC says the approval and implementation of these projects continue the commission’s efforts to meet the clean energy and widespread transportation-electrification goals of S.B.350, landmark legislation signed into law in late 2015, which requires California to generate 50 percent of its electricity from zero-carbon renewable sources within 15 years.
The legislation, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, is sponsored by Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, and pushes California's renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by Dec. 31, 2030, from the current 33 percent by 2020.
