BILL NUMBER: AB 1351 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blakeslee
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Sections 399.12 and 399.12.5 of the Public
Utilities Code, relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1351, as introduced, Blakeslee. Renewable energy resources.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations.
The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities
on the commission with respect to the purchase of electricity and
requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan and a
renewable energy procurement plan for each electrical corporation
pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The
program requires that a retail seller of electricity, including
electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric
service providers, purchase a specified minimum percentage of
electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources, as
defined, in any given year as a specified percentage of total
kilowatthours sold to retail end-use customers each calendar year.
The existing definition of an eligible renewable energy resource
includes fuel cells using renewable fuels.
This bill would recast certain portions of the definition of an
eligible renewable energy resource and would include in that
definition, fuel cells that are required to utilize an increasing
percentage of renewable fuel, as defined, for the generation of
electricity.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 399.12 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
399.12. For purposes of this article, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(a) "Conduit hydroelectric facility" means a facility for the
generation of electricity that uses only the hydroelectric potential
of an existing pipe, ditch, flume, siphon, tunnel, canal, or other
manmade conduit that is operated to distribute water for a beneficial
use.
(b) "Delivered" and "delivery" have the same meaning as provided
in subdivision (a) of Section 25741 of the Public Resources Code.
(c) "Eligible renewable energy resource" means an electric
generating facility that meets the definition of "in-state
renewable electricity generation facility" in Section 25741 of the
Public Resources Code, subject to the following limitations:
uses biomass, solar energy, wind, geothermal, fuel
cells, small hydroelectric generation of 30 megawatts or less,
digester gas, landfill gas, ocean wave, ocean thermal, or tidal
current, and any additions or enhancements to the facility using that
technology, and that meets the location or interconnection
requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 25741 of
the Public Resources Code and, when applicable, the requirements for
specific renewable energy sources of Section 399.12.5.
(1) (A) An existing small hydroelectric generation facility of 30
megawatts or less shall be eligible only if a retail seller or local
publicly owned electric utility owned or procured the electricity
from the facility as of December 31, 2005. A new hydroelectric
facility is not an eligible renewable energy resource if it will
cause an adverse impact on instream beneficial uses or cause a change
in the volume or timing of streamflow.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a conduit hydroelectric
facility of 30 megawatts or less that commenced operation before
January 1, 2006, is an eligible renewable energy resource. A conduit
hydroelectric facility of 30 megawatts or less that commences
operation after December 31, 2005, is an eligible renewable energy
resource so long as it does not cause an adverse impact on instream
beneficial uses or cause a change in the volume or timing of
streamflow.
(2) A facility engaged in the combustion of municipal solid waste
shall not be considered an eligible renewable resource unless it is
located in Stanislaus County and was operational prior to September
26, 1996.
(d) "Procure" means that a retail seller or local publicly owned
electric utility receives delivered electricity generated by an
eligible renewable energy resource that it owns or for which it has
entered into an electricity purchase agreement. Nothing in this
article is intended to imply that the purchase of electricity from
third parties in a wholesale transaction is the preferred method of
fulfilling a retail seller's obligation to comply with this article
or the obligation of a local publicly owned electric utility to meet
its renewables portfolio standard implemented pursuant to Section
387 . 387.
(e) "Renewables portfolio standard" means the specified percentage
of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources that
a retail seller is required to procure pursuant to this article or
the obligation of a local publicly owned electric utility to meet its
renewables portfolio standard implemented pursuant to Section
387 . 387.
(f) (1) "Renewable energy credit" means a certificate of proof,
issued through the accounting system established by the Energy
Commission pursuant to Section 399.13, that one unit of electricity
was generated and delivered by an eligible renewable energy resource.
(2) "Renewable energy credit" includes all renewable and
environmental attributes associated with the production of
electricity from the eligible renewable energy resource, except for
an emissions reduction credit issued pursuant to Section 40709 of the
Health and Safety Code and any credits or payments associated with
the reduction of solid waste and treatment benefits created by the
utilization of biomass or biogas fuels.
(3) No electricity generated by an eligible renewable energy
resource attributable to the use of nonrenewable fuels, beyond a de
minimis quantity, as determined by the Energy Commission, shall
result in the creation of a renewable energy credit.
(g) "Retail seller" means an entity engaged in the retail sale of
electricity to end-use customers located within the state, including
any of the following:
(1) An electrical corporation, as defined in Section 218.
(2) A community choice aggregator. The commission shall institute
a rulemaking to determine the manner in which a community choice
aggregator will participate in the renewables portfolio standard
program subject to the same terms and conditions applicable to an
electrical corporation.
(3) An electric service provider, as defined in Section 218.3, for
all sales of electricity to customers beginning January 1, 2006. The
commission shall institute a rulemaking to determine the manner in
which electric service providers will participate in the renewables
portfolio standard program. The electric service provider shall be
subject to the same terms and conditions applicable to an electrical
corporation pursuant to this article. Nothing in this paragraph shall
impair a contract entered into between an electric service provider
and a retail customer prior to the suspension of direct access by the
commission pursuant to Section 80110 of the Water Code.
(4) "Retail seller" does not include any of the following:
(A) A corporation or person employing cogeneration technology or
producing electricity consistent with subdivision (b) of Section 218.
(B) The Department of Water Resources acting in its capacity
pursuant to Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water
Code.
(C) A local publicly owned electric utility.
SEC. 2. Section 399.12.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
399.12.5. (a) (1) A small hydroelectric
generation facility of 30 megawatts or less that commenced operation
before January 1, 2006, is an eligible renewable energy resource
only if a retail seller or local publicly owned electric utility
owned or procured the electricity from the facility as of December
31, 2005. A small hydroelectric generation facility of 30 megawatts
or less that commences operation after December 31, 2005, is an
eligible renewable energy resource so long as it does not cause
an adverse impact on instream beneficial uses or cause a change
in the volume or timing of streamflow.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a conduit hydroelectric
facility of 30 megawatts or less that commenced operation before
January 1, 2006, is an eligible renewable energy resource. A conduit
hydroelectric facility of 30 megawatts or less that commences
operation after December 31, 2005, is an eligible renewable energy
resource so long as it does not cause an adverse impact on instream
beneficial uses or cause a change in the volume or timing of
streamflow.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (c) of
Section 399.12, a small hydroelectric generation facility that
satisfies the criteria for an eligible renewable energy resource
pursuant to Section 399.12 shall not lose its
eligibility if efficiency improvements undertaken after January 1,
2008, cause the generating capacity of the facility to exceed 30
megawatts, and the efficiency improvements do not result in an
adverse impact on instream beneficial uses or cause a change in the
volume or timing of streamflow. The entire generating capacity of the
facility shall be eligible.
(b)
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (c) of Section
399.12 (a) , the incremental increase in the
amount of electricity generated from a hydroelectric generation
facility as a result of efficiency improvements at the facility, is
electricity from an eligible renewable energy resource, without
regard to the electrical output of the facility, if all of the
following conditions are met:
(1) The incremental increase is the result of efficiency
improvements from a retrofit that do not result in an adverse impact
on instream beneficial uses or cause a change in the volume or timing
of streamflow.
(2) The hydroelectric generation facility has, within the
immediately preceding 15 years, received certification from
the State Water Resources Control Board pursuant to Section
401 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1341), or has
received certification from a regional board to which the state board
has delegated authority to issue certification, unless the
facility is exempt from certification because there is no potential
for discharge into waters of the United States.
(3) The hydroelectric generation facility was operational prior to
January 1, 2007, the efficiency improvements are initiated on or
after January 1, 2008, the efficiency improvements are not the result
of routine maintenance activities, as determined by the Energy
Commission, and the efficiency improvements were not included in any
resource plan sponsored by the facility owner prior to January 1,
2008.
(4) All of the incremental increase in electricity resulting from
the efficiency improvements are demonstrated to result from a
long-term financial commitment by the retail seller or local publicly
owned electric utility. For purposes of this paragraph, "long-term
financial commitment" means either new ownership investment in the
facility by the retail seller or local publicly owned electric
utility or a new or renewed contract with a term of 10 or more years,
which includes procurement of the incremental generation.
(c)
(d) The incremental increase in the amount of
electricity generated from a hydroelectric generation facility as a
result of efficiency improvements at the facility are not eligible
for supplemental energy payments pursuant to the Renewable Energy
Resources Program (Chapter 8.6 (commencing with Section 25740) of
Division 15 of the Public Resources Code), or a successor program.
(e) A facility engaged in the combustion of municipal solid waste
is not an eligible renewable energy resource unless it is located in
Stanislaus County and was operational prior to September 26, 1996.
(f) (1) An electric generating facility employing fuel cells to
generate electricity is an eligible renewable energy resource if the
facility uses at least the following percentage of renewable fuel:
(A) Twenty-five percent renewable fuel by 2012.
(B) Fifty percent renewable fuel by 2015.
(C) One hundred percent renewable fuel by 2018.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, a fuel is a "renewable fuel"
if it meets any of the following criteria:
(A) The fuel is derived from a biomass feedstock and is
reformatted, if necessary, using energy generated by an eligible
renewable energy resource.
(B) The fuel is derived from a biogas feedstock, including manure
methane production, byproducts of the anaerobic digestion of
biosolids and animal waste, and landfill gas, and is reformatted, if
necessary, using energy generated by an eligible renewable energy
resource.
(C) The fuel meets all of the following requirements:
(i) The fuel is not included in paragraph (A) or (B) and is
derived from a source or feedstock that is not a fossil fuel, as
defined in Section 2806, including water.
(ii) No greenhouse gases are emitted in the reformatting of the
fuel.
(iii) The fuel is reformatted using electricity generated by an
eligible renewable energy resource.
(3) Each unit of electricity generated by an electric generating
facility employing fuel cells that use renewable fuels according to
paragraph (1) shall result in the creation of a renewable energy
credit.