CPUC TO HOLD POLICY + INNOVATION FORUM TO IDENTIFY TOP OPPORTUNITIES FOR ELECTRIC POWER RD&D

SAN FRANCISCO, October 20, 2021 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will hold its second Policy + Innovation Forum on October 28, 2021, to better connect ratepayer-funded research, development, and deployment (RD&D) projects with current and emerging California policy priorities. The forum will also offer a preview of the CPUC's new public database containing more than 60 searchable data fields for hundreds of Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) RD&D projects.

The forum will bring together RD&D project leaders, CPUC and California Energy Commission (CEC) Commissioners and staff, and other stakeholders to discuss near-, medium-, and long-term energy policy directions for the state of California, and the technology RD&D implications of those policy directions.

The Forum will focus on the critical and timely topic areas of Building Decarbonization, Integrated Resource Planning, and Transportation Electrification. Participants in the forum will have an opportunity to discuss RD&D needs and developments in those topic areas with the CPUC, and gain insights from CPUC staff. Stakeholders interested in joining the virtual forum can register online at https://www.epicpartnership.org/forum2.html.

Key Speakers

• CPUC Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves
• CPUC Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen
• CEC Chair David Hochschild

Date	Time	Access Information
Thursday, October 28, 2021	10 a.m. - 3 p.m.	Stakeholders who are interested in joining the virtual forum can register online by visiting EPICPartnership.org/forum2.html.

The Forum is hosted by the Policy + Innovation Coordination Group (PICG), established in CPUC Decisions (D.) 18-01-008 and D.18-10-052, and comprised of EPIC program administrators, CPUC Commissioners, CPUC Energy Division staff, and the PICG Project Coordinator.

The CPUC's Electric RD&D Investments

EPIC supports the development of new, emerging, and non-commercialized clean energy technologies in California. These projects benefit electric utility customers with increased reliability, improved safety, and/or reduced electricity costs.

The CPUC oversees EPIC, which is funded by investor-owned electric utility customers. Four administrators currently administer EPIC: the CEC, which administers 80 percent of EPIC funds; and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric, which together administer the remaining 20 percent of EPIC funds. D.20-08-042 reauthorized EPIC for 2021-2030 at $148 million per year, to be administered by the CEC.

To find out more about the Policy + Innovation Coordination Group, visit EPICPartnership.org.

The CPUC regulates services and utilities, protects consumers, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians' access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.

CPUC ANNOUNCES PUBLIC FORUM TO ACCELERATE AND COORDINATE ELECTRIC POWER RD&D OUTCOMES

SAN FRANCISCO, January 28, 2020 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will hold its first Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Policy + Innovation Forum on February 18, 2021, to better connect energy research, development, and deployment (RD&D) projects with current and emerging policy issues. The Forum will highlight the results of the EPIC Policy + Innovation Coordination Group’s collaboration on equity, wildfire mitigation, transportation electrification, and utility Public Safety Power Shutoff RD&D projects.

EPIC is the largest state-level public interest electricity RD&D program in the nation, driving investments in emerging technologies to ensure the state’s energy policy goals are achieved. The CPUC created the Policy + Innovation Coordination Group to support targeted feedback among policymakers and EPIC innovators.

Panelists and participants will share direct experiences from RD&D projects on the policy obstacles to new and emerging technology adoption, discuss ways to use these lessons to inform ongoing and upcoming CPUC proceedings, and identify new opportunities for coordination and collaboration to accelerate energy innovation. Stakeholders interested in joining the virtual forum can register online at EPICPartnership.org.

Key Speakers

• CPUC President Marybel Batjer
• CPUC Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves
• CPUC Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen

Date	Time	Access Information
Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021	10 a.m. – 2:40 p.m.	Stakeholders who are interested in joining the virtual forum can register online at EPICPartnership.org.

The CPUC’s Policy + Innovation Coordination Group

The Forum is being hosted by the EPIC Policy + Innovation Coordination Group, established in CPUC Decisions D.18-01-008 and D.18-10-052 , and comprised of EPIC program administrators, CPUC Commissioners, CPUC Energy Division staff, and the EPIC Policy+Innovation Coordination Group Project Coordinator.

From September through December 2020, the group facilitated 11 public meetings around the workstream topics of equity, wildfire mitigation, transportation electrification, and utility Public Safety Power Shutoffs, engaging more than 500 stakeholders. The purpose of the group is to better leverage lessons learned from RD&D projects and the CPUC’s policymaking proceedings through increased collaboration among EPIC program administrators, the CPUC, and stakeholders.

The CPUC’s Electric Power RD&D Investments

EPIC supports the development of new, emerging, and non-commercialized clean energy technologies in California. These projects benefit electric utility customers with increased reliability, improved safety, and/or reduced electricity costs.

The CPUC oversees EPIC, which is funded by investor-owned electricity utility customers. Four administrators currently administer EPIC: the California Energy Commission (CEC), which administers 80 percent of EPIC funds; and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric, which together administer the remaining 20 percent of EPIC funds. D.20-08-042 reauthorized EPIC for 2021-2030 at $ 148 million per year, to be administered by the CEC.

To find out more about the Policy + Innovation Coordination Group, visit EPICPartnership.org.

The CPUC regulates services and utilities, protects consumers, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.

Call for Presenters

Policy+Innovation Coordination Group (PICG) Wildfire Workstream

Please respond by October 30, 2020.

The Project Coordinator for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) research, development and deployment program Policy+Innovation Coordination Group is issuing a call for presenters for the third PICG Wildfire Mitigation Workstream Meeting to be held on December 2, 2020 from 2:00-3:30 pm PST. This meeting will focus on identifying new opportunities for collaboration, such as technology demonstration, that accelerate innovation of new and emerging wildfire mitigation technologies, solutions, and strategies for electric utility applications.

These technologies must be pre-commercial, have application to the electric distribution or transmission grid, and may include but are not limited to the following topics in wildfire mitigation:

• Vegetation Management
• Asset Management Strategies or Tools to Prevent and/or Minimize Wildfire Ignition
• Remote Sensoring or Situational Awareness Tools
• Grid Hardening Technologies to Prevent and/or Minimize Weather and Wildfire Impacts to the Grid
• Cost/Benefit Tools for Evaluating and Prioritizing Infrastructure Investments
• Predictive Analytics for Weather and Wildfire Forecasting

Presenters will have 5-7 minutes to present on the emerging technology and to address some or all the following core questions.

• Given the EPIC projects presented in PICG Wildfire Mitigation meetings 1 and 2, what gap does this technology or solution fill with respect to the EPIC portfolio?
• How can the costs and benefits of emerging wildfire mitigation technologies, as compared to currently deployed electric utility technologies, best be evaluated?
• From a location and cost perspective, what is a robust methodology for gauging the effectiveness of a technology or strategy for an electric utility?
• What specific technologies or asset management strategies can measurably predict risk, avoid faults, and/or reduce the risk of a fault becoming an ignition?
• What are important project considerations in the R&D stage to eventually allow for commercialization and incorporation into utility operations?

Please submit the following to the Project Coordinator at picg@theaccelerategroup.com by October 30, 2020. CPUC’s consultant and PICG Project Coordinator, the Accelerate Group, will review and select presenters and contact them in early November.

• Short company and presenter biography
• Abstract of the emerging technology
• Key points to be made in the presentation

For more information on the workstream please visit: https://www.EPICpartnership.org/wildfire.html.

Please contact the Project Coordinator at picg@theaccelerategroup.com with any questions. Thank you.

CPUC launches new effort to accelerate and coordinate energy RD&D with emerging issues

San Francisco, July 28, 2020 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today is taking further action to focus electricity research, development, and deployment (RD&D) projects to better connect ratepayer-funded projects with current and emerging policy issues. Through four new workstreams, the CPUC will aggregate lessons learned from RD&D leaders and other stakeholders around key areas of shared interest across projects.

The workstreams will focus on the following Partnership Areas in 2020:

• Equity: How can we ensure that the transition to clean energy is equitable?
• Wildfire Mitigation: How do we develop new tools to prioritize and weigh wildfire mitigation investments?
• Transportation Electrification: How can transportation electrification support grid reliability and promote grid decarbonization?
• Utility Public Safety Power Shut-offs (PSPS): How do we minimize social and economic disruptions of utility PSPS events for the most critical public services and the most vulnerable communities?

CPUC Decision 18-01-008 and D.18-10-052 established the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Policy+Innovation Coordination Group, comprised of EPIC program administrators, CPUC Commissioners, CPUC Energy Division staff, and the Project Coordinator. The purpose of the group is to better leverage lessons learned from RD&D projects through increased collaboration among EPIC program administrators and between program administrations and the CPUC.

Participants in the four workstreams will share their direct experience in ongoing EPIC research, development, and deployment projects. Workstreams will explore policy obstacles to new and emerging technology adoption, help inform ongoing and upcoming CPUC proceedings, and create new collaborations across research projects to accelerate energy innovation. The Partnership Areas apply to current EPIC projects, and do not direct funding for future investments.

The Partnership Areas were chosen after work by the CPUC Policy+Innovation Coordination Group to identify areas in which RD&D projects funded through the CPUC’s EPIC Program could be better coordinated to accelerate innovation, and to create a feedback loop between the State’s energy RD&D efforts and emerging energy policy challenges.

Stakeholders that are interested in joining the workstreams can find more information and detailed descriptions of each of the Partnership Areas at https://EPICpartnership.org. All workstreams will be conducted virtually starting in September 2020 and will continue through November 2020.

The CPUC’s Electricity RD&D Investments

EPIC supports the development of new, emerging, and non-commercialized clean energy technologies in California. These projects benefit electricity ratepayers with increased reliability, improved safety, and/or reduced electricity costs.

The CPUC oversees and monitors EPIC, which is paid for by utility ratepayers. Four administrators currently administer EPIC: the California Energy Commission (CEC), which administers 80 percent of EPIC funds, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric, which together administer the remaining 20 percent of EPIC funds.

In 2019, the CPUC selected The Accelerate Group and 2R Group to serve as Project Coordinator of the Policy+Innovation Coordination Group through a competitive RFP process. The role of the Project Coordinator is to facilitate coordination between the CPUC’s energy policy and planning needs, and the energy RD&D supported by the EPIC funding.

To find out more about the Policy + Innovation Coordination Group, visit https://EPICpartnership.org.

The CPUC regulates services and utilities, protects consumers, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.

The Accelerate Group works across the globe to accelerate energy transformation, providing strategic consulting and project leadership expertise for companies, governments, and not-for- profits working to advance energy, innovation, good government and economic development projects at a local or global scale. The Accelerate Group focuses on innovative energy projects, new clean energy and smart city policy, and support of energy start-ups.

2R Group is supporting The Accelerate Group in its role as Project Coordinator of the Policy + Innovation Coordination Group. 2R Group is a 100% woman owned, and operated consultancy based in Southern California. As seasoned industry professionals, 2R Group uses a consultative approach to advising companies in the renewable energy and real estate industries to implement cutting-edge sustainable focused solutions.