(a) On or before December 31, 2023, the commission, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, Independent System Operator, and State Air Resources Board, shall submit to the Legislature an assessment of firm zero-carbon resources that support a clean, reliable, and resilient electrical grid in California and will achieve the policy described in § 454.53 of the Public Utilities Code.

(b) The assessment shall do all of the following:

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(1) Identify all available, commercially feasible and near-commercially feasible firm zero-carbon resources that could support a clean, reliable, and resilient electrical grid, and distinguish which resources are capable of addressing system reliability needs and local reliability needs, with an emphasis on reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, toxic air contaminants, and criteria air pollutants.

(2) Evaluate the magnitude of potential needs for and role of firm zero-carbon resources using a reasonable range of resource cost and performance assumptions that reflect emerging technology trends in order to help integrate generation from eligible renewable energy resources into the electrical grid on a daily, multiday, and seasonal basis.

(3) Identify barriers to the development of firm zero-carbon resources and possible solutions to address those barriers, including pathways for additional procurement of those resources by load-serving entities, including joint procurements by electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, direct access customers, local publicly owned electric utilities, and other public entities, or a central procurement entity.

(4) Recommend changes to research and development projects, demonstration projects, and energy incentives to support the contributions of firm zero-carbon resources to the near-, mid-, and long-term reliability and resiliency of California’s electrical grid, consistent with California’s goals to reduce localized air pollutants and emissions of greenhouse gases, including early priority in disadvantaged communities.

(5) Evaluate the reliability of load-serving entities’ integrated resource plans under multiday extreme and atypical weather events, which shall include, at minimum, events with extended periods of low renewable energy generation and events that occur in all seasons at least as frequently as once per 10 years.

(6) Evaluate the use of energy storage to achieve the goals pursuant to this section.

(c) The assessment shall not affect the process any load-serving entity uses to develop or procure resources to serve its customers.

(d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Eligible renewable energy resources” has the same meaning as defined in § 399.12 of the Public Utilities Code.

(2) “Firm zero-carbon resources” are electrical resources that can individually, or in combination, deliver zero-carbon electricity with high availability for the expected duration of multiday extreme or atypical weather events, including periods of low renewable energy generation, and facilitate integration of eligible renewable energy resources into the electrical grid and the transition to a zero-carbon electrical grid.

(3) “Load-serving entities” has the same meaning as defined in § 380 of the Public Utilities Code.

(e) (1) The assessment to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with § 9795 of the Government Code.

(2) Pursuant to § 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on January 1, 2026.

(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 243, Sec. 2. (SB 423) Effective January 1, 2022. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, by its own provisions.)