The Utility’s Role in
Implementing Clean
Technology

Fong Wan
Senior Vice President, Energy Procurement
Pacific Gas and Electric Company

March 17, 2009
This presentation is not complete without the accompanying oral statements made on March 17, 2009. A replay is available at
www.pgecorp.com. For more information about PG&E Corporation and its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and a
discussion of risks and uncertainties facing the companies, see the reports filed or furnished by the companies to the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008. These reports are
available at www.pgecorp.com and www.pge.com.
 
 

 
1
Agenda
 California’s Clean Energy History
 The Importance of Demand-Side Emerging Technologies
 Renewable Energy Requirements
 Benefits and Challenges of Utility-scale vs. Distributed Solar
 PG&E's Portfolio Approach
 Comparison of PV vs. Concentrating Solar Thermal
 PG&E’s Proposed New Photovoltaic Program
 Integration of Intermittent Renewables
 Enabling Technologies
 ü Energy Storage
 ü SmartGrid
 
 

 
2
What Makes California Different?
 Long-standing State policies lower carbon footprint.
 30+ years of energy efficiency programs facilitated by
 “decoupling” of rates.
 California Energy Action Plan preferred loading order:
  Customer Energy Efficiency
  Demand Response/Dynamic Pricing
  Renewables
  Distributed Generation
  Clean gas-fired plants
 
 

 
3
Over the past 30 years, California per capita electricity use has remained
relatively flat compared to the 50% increase in U.S. per capita electricity use.
Source: California Energy Commission
History of Energy Efficiency Key to California Success
-
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
US
CA
Western Europe
2005
 
 

 
4
Savings from Efficiency Programs and Standards
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
14,000
Appliance Standards
Building Standards
Utility Efficiency
Programs at a cost of
~1% of electric bill
Utility Programs and State Standards
Utility tests
technologies
that
deliver above-code
savings
California Energy
Commission raises
building and
appliance codes
and standards
Utility Rebate
Programs provide
incentives for
tested technologies

leading to mass-
market adoption
Source: California Energy Commission
 
 

 
5
Demand Response: SmartAC Example
 
 

 
6
California Has the Most Aggressive
Renewable Portfolio Standard
State Goal
PA: 18%** by 2020
NJ: 22.5% by 2021
CT: 23% by 2020
WI: requirement varies by
utility; 10% by 2015 goal
IA: 105 MW
MN: 25% by 2025
(Xcel: 30% by 2020)
TX: 5,880 MW by 2015
AZ: 15% by 2025
CA: 20% by 2010
*NV: 20% by 2015
ME: 30% by 2000
10% by 2017 - new RE
State RPS
HI: 20% by 2020
RI: 16% by 2020
CO: 20% by 2020 (IOUs)
*10% by 2020 (co-ops & large munis)
DC: 20% by 2020
DSIRE: www.dsireusa.org   March 2009
NY: 24% by 2013
MT: 15% by 2015
IL: 25% by 2025
VT: (1) RE meets any increase
in retail sales by 2012;
(2) 20% RE & CHP by 2017
MD: 20% by 2022
NH: 23.8% in 2025
OR: 25% by 2025 (large utilities)
5% - 10% by 2025 (smaller utilities)
*VA: 12% by 2022
*DE: 20% by 2019
NM: 20% by 2020 (IOUs)
10% by 2020 (co-ops)
NC: 12.5% by 2021 (IOUs)
10% by 2018 (co-ops & munis)
ND: 10% by 2015
SD: 10% by 2015
*UT: 20% by 2025
OH: 25%** by 2025
*MI: 10% + 1,100 MW
by 2015
MA: 15% by 2020
+ 1% annual increase
(Class I Renewables)
MO: 15% by 2021
*WA: 15% by 2020
28 states have
an RPS;
5 states have an
RE goal
proposed:
33% by 2020
 
 

 
7
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Annual
Cumulative
3
3
2
4
13
3
6
8
12
25
# of Contracts
30
40
5
10
Aggressive Contracting for
Diverse Renewable Resources
MW
Geothermal
493
Wind
778
Bioenergy
129
Solar Thermal
1,230
3,515
Solar PV
777
%
MW
14
22
4
35
22
%
MWh
25
18
7
30
14
Solar/Biomass
107
35
30
Small Hydro
1
<1
<1
 
 

 
8
Advancing Renewable Energy Technologies
Biomass
Wind
Geothermal
BioGas
Small Hydro
Wave Power
Concentrating
Solar Thermal
Traditional
Emerging
Concentrating
Photovoltaic
 
 

 
9
Distributed vs. Utility Scale Solar
Pros:
 Speed to market
 Not transmission dependent
 Not dependent on water
Cons:
 Higher deployment costs
 Slower scale penetration
Utility Scale
Pros:
 Economies of scale
 Efficiencies
 Compatible with emerging
 storage technologies
Cons:
 Transmission dependent
 Land & water requirements
 Not for all locations
Distributed
PG&E Takes a Diversified Portfolio Approach
 
 

 
Annual PG&E Solar Interconnections
28,500 PG&E customer solar installations ( >290 MW)
 
 

 
11
A Portfolio of Diverse Central-Station and
Dispersed Utility-Scale Solar Technologies
500-MW Power Tower
550-MW Cd Te PV
210-MW c-Si Tracking PV
250-MW Dispersed PV
(1-20 MW ea) (PPA)
Illustrative
553-MW Parabolic Trough
250-MW Dispersed PV
(1-20 MW ea) (owned)
Illustrative
 
 

 
12
Why Utility Ownership?
 Credit-related cancellations or delays of independent
 contractors’ projects
 Balance sheet strength produces lower cost of money
 Utilities can utilize the PTC and ITC
 Reduces development risk
 
 

 
13
Why the Trend to Photovoltaics?
 Proven, commercially ready technology
 Costs are decreasing
 Many Northern California locations suitable for PV
 deployment
 Modular / rapid deployment capabilities
 Project size facilitates expedited interconnection
 Project size avoids transmission upgrades
 Dispersed implementation reduces environmental
 impacts
 More peak coincident than other renewables
 Utilities now eligible for ITC
 
 

 
14
Levelized Cost of Energy1 Has Decreased

Solar Energy Cost Trends
Source: NREL Energy Analysis Office (www.nrel.gov/analysis/docs/cost_curves_2005.ppt)
1These graphs are reflections of historical cost trends NOT precise annual historical data.
?
?
125 -
100 -
75 -
50 -
25 -
Photovoltaics
 
 

 
15
PG&E’s Proposed New “Hybrid” PV Program
 Requested California Public Utilities Commission
 (CPUC) approval in February 2009
 5-Year Program targeted to begin in January 2010
 500 MW(AC): 1 to 20 MW installations composed of
  250 MW (305 MW(DC)) utility-owned generation (UOG) at an
 estimated capital cost of $1.45 billion (~$4.25 per Watt
(DC))
  250 MW of PPAs
 PG&E-owned projects projected to be primarily
 ground-mounted
  Targeting utility-owned land with grid connection capability
 
 

 
16
PG&E’s Proposed New “Hybrid” PV Program
 PG&E would seek to finance projects as any rate-
 base investment
 The terms and pricing of the PPAs would be subject
 to pre-approval by the CPUC
 Proposed 2 MW pilot UOG PV project targeted to
 start in 2009, to speed deployment of the larger PV
 Program if approved by the CPUC
 
 

 
17
Integrating Intermittent Renewables
 Solar and wind are both intermittent resources
 Very few renewable resources are dispatchable
 Today, integrating renewable resources requires
 more fast-response natural gas power plants
 New technologies will provide other options in the
 future
 
 

 
18
Wind Generation Varies Widely
The average is smooth, but day-to-day variability is great
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Hour
MW
Average
Each Day is a different color.
-Day 29
-Day 5
-Day 26
-Day 9
Source: CAISO
Source: CAISO
 
 

 
19
CCGT Power Plant
Renewable Resource Integration
Today:
 Clean, flexible, natural gas-fueled resources are currently necessary to
 back up intermittent resources
 Significantly improved air emissions profile compared to retiring plants,
 but still fossil-fueled
 
 

 
20
Renewable Resource Integration
Local Storage
Rooftop PV
Centralized Storage
Tomorrow:
 Utility scale distributed storage to back up intermittent resources and
 timeshift resource availability to be coincident with demand
 Distributed generation and distributed storage to apply similar principles
 at the customer premise
 Demand response programs used to integrate intermittent renewables
 
 

 
21
California’s State Flower
 The commute to the
 average office building in
 CA uses 57% more
 energy than the building
 uses.
 Transportation will be the
 next big use of clean
 electricity.
 The SmartGrid will
 enable the electrification
 of transportation without
 requiring additional fossil
 -fueled generation.
Source: California Energy Commission
 
 

 
22
Electric Vehicles and the Home Area Network
Home Area Network
AMI/SmartGrid
Time-shifting
Electricity
 
 

 
23
Enabling Technology - SmartGrid