California utilities support centralized renewables procurement proposal, but urge caution

California's investor-owned utilities are "generally supportive" of a proposed statewide procurement process for renewable resources, they said at an all party meeting last week with state regulators to discuss the proposal. But they cautioned the Public Utilities Commission against moving too quickly on a centralized renewables procurement system. In March, a California Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued the proposal after concluding plans filed by utilities and community choice aggregators (CCA) would not reliably meet the state's climate goals. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) said it supports development of a "designated special purpose entity" that would act as a central buyer with decisions subject to commission approval. Other utilities also indicated support for the idea, while pushing for clarification on a few key provisions.