EPIC Policy + Innovation Coordination Group Strategic Objectives Kick-Off Workshop

EPIC Policy + Innovation Coordination Group
Strategic Objectives Kick-Off Workshop
March 19, 2024, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Public Webinar Registration

Participants must register to join the meeting prior to the event at the following link: https://events.zoom.us/ev/ApdX9HTq3dMMZlSJeab_XG-zK4Bvnkmumzlgg76vptby2eK6qPcB~Akml62YLX8V9Ym6k9jPD3SFN7sDJ-uFHWiEq63bnjg0Xl5NmGeCv_aO7gg

Call-in Option: +1-408-638-0968; Meeting ID provided to registrants

For technical concerns in accessing Zoom, contact picg@theaccelerategroup.com. 

Background

About the EPIC Program. The Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) supports the development of new, emerging, and pre-commercial clean energy innovations in California. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) requires that EPIC portfolios be designed to ensure ratepayer benefits in the form of equitable access to safe, affordable, reliable, and environmentally sustainable energy for electricity ratepayers. This program is funded by California utility customers under the auspices of the CPUC. EPIC funds are currently administered by the California Energy Commission (CEC), which administers 80% of EPIC funds and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which together administer the remaining 20% of EPIC funds.

In its most recent EPIC Decision (D.)24-03-007 the CPUC approved five (5) Strategic Goals for the EPIC Program. The approved Strategic Goals are Transportation Electrification, Distributed Energy Resource Integration, Building Decarbonization, Achieving 100 Percent Net-Zero Carbon Emissions and the Coordinated Role of Gas, and Climate Adaptation. These are clear and measurable goals for developing EPIC portfolios to be used in program evaluations to measure impacts of EPIC investments in supporting achievement of California’s 2045 climate, energy, and equity targets. The next steps authorized by the decision include several workshops to develop Strategic Objectives.

Strategic Objectives are clear, measurable, and robust targets to guide EPIC investment plan strategies to scale and deploy innovation to align with EPIC's Strategic Goals that:

• Address the key gaps in critical pathways to achieving California’s climate goals,
• Focus on the unique role ratepayer funded research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) can play in leading innovation investment, and
• Consider important crosscutting principles identified in the decision.

Specifically, D.24-03-007 endorsed principles for crosscutting strategies to be considered in development of the Strategic Objectives. These principles relate to (1) equity, (2) emerging strategies, and (3) safety (including cybersecurity).

Purpose of the Workshop

The Strategic Objectives Kick-Off Workshop aims to equip stakeholders with essential knowledge for subsequent technical working group participation by: (1) presenting an overview of the recent CPUC decision and the approved Strategic Goals; (2) outlining the framework of criteria that define Strategic Objectives; and (3) building off innovation gaps as identified in the Strategic Goals workshops. The guiding framework for the Strategic Objectives Technical Working Group process is the four core elements developed in the 2023 Strategic Goals Workshop process:

• Pathways: Set of critical actions necessary to support meeting the State’s 2045 zero carbon goals via the most effective strategies and technology innovation.
• Gaps: Key challenges for achieving zero carbon goals and how RD&D should be prioritized to address opportunities and barriers more quickly along critical pathways.
• Roles: The best-positioned stakeholders (ratepayers, state, federal, private sector) to lead innovation investment addressing identified gaps, including through coordination and collaboration.
• Outcomes: Clear, measurable, and reasonable targets to be used by administrators in developing EPIC portfolios and used in program evaluations to measure impacts of EPIC in supporting achievement of California’s 2045 zero carbon goals.

Additionally, the workshop will discuss the anticipated 2024 roadmap for the EPIC proceeding.

Format

The Accelerate Group will facilitate the Workshop under the guidance of CPUC’s Energy Division.

There will be a live transcription of the event in both English and Spanish.

This meeting will be recorded and made available on www.EPICpartnership.org.