In this episode of the Energy Perspectives Podcast, recorded at the 2026 Carbon Solutions Forum in San Diego, Brad Townsend from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, sits down with J. Andrew McAllister, Commissioner at the California Energy Commission, and Francisco Leon, President and CEO of California Resources Corporation.

The conversation explores how California is balancing decarbonization goals with a return to electricity load growth, where permitting is moving and where it still slows projects, and how integrated approaches across power, fuels, and carbon management are meeting surging demand. Topics include the CEC's new Opt-In permitting pathway, California's first EPA Class VI carbon sequestration permit, next-generation geothermal and long-duration storage, and the case for shifting financing from ratepayers to private capital.

Key Themes:

• California's load growth outlook, driven by transportation electrification with data center demand on the horizon

• Permitting reform and the CEC's new Opt-In pathway

• Integrated carbon management: CRC's first-in-state CCS project, compressed air storage, advanced geothermal

• Shifting the financing model from ratepayer recovery to private balance sheets

Chapters

0:00 Introduction
2:30 California's load growth outlook
4:33 Why electrification is an affordability play
7:08 What hyperscalers want from the grid
12:45 What California has built in six years
15:00 The CEC's Opt-In permitting pathway
18:00 CRC's integrated carbon management thesis
20:14 Modernizing existing facilities
22:00 The first EPA Class VI permit and Kern County project
24:05 Capital, speed, and the cost of solving for perfect
27:33 Changing the financing model

29:30 Closing

Learn more about the Carbon Solutions Forum: https://energy-dialogues.com/events/carbon-solutions-forum/

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