BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2514
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2514 (Skinner)
As Amended August 20, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |41-28|(June 3, 2010) |SENATE: |22-13|(August 24, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: U. & C.
SUMMARY : Requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to
determine appropriate targets, if any, for load serving entities
to procure energy storage systems and requires load serving
entities to meet any targets adopted by the PUC by 2015 and
2020. Requires publicly owned utilities (POUs) to set their own
targets for the procurement of energy storage and meet those
targets by 2016 and 2021.
The Senate amendments :
1)Delete the requirement that each local POU develop and submit
to the California Energy Commission a plan to implement a
five-year program to employ energy storage systems.
2)Permit, rather than require, an energy storage system to be
used to meet the resource adequacy requirements established
for a load-serving entity if it meets applicable standards.
3)Exempts an electrical corporation that has 60,000 or fewer
customer accounts within California from the energy storage
requirements required by this bill.
4)Exempts a public utility that receives all of its electricity
pursuant to a preference right pursuant to Section 4 of the
Trinity River Division Act from the energy storage
requirements required by this bill.
5)Explicitly states that nothing in this section prohibits the
PUC's evaluation and approval of any application for funding
or recovery of costs of any ongoing or new development,
trialing, and testing of energy storage projects or
technologies outside of the proceeding required by this
chapter.
AB 2514
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AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY this bill required:
1)PUC to establish procurement targets for energy storage
systems for all load-serving entities for 2015 and 2020.
2)The governing board of each POU to adopt energy storage system
procurement targets to be achieved by 2016 and 2021 and report
their progress to CEC.
3)Each POU to develop a 5-year plan to employ energy storage
systems.
FISCAL EFFECT :
1)Ongoing special fund costs to PUC of $1.1 million for 9.0
positions to establish a regulatory program for energy storage
through a ratemaking proceeding, monitor compliance with PUC
decisions, monitor procurement of storage services and
evaluate the cost- effectiveness of such procurement through
an annual compliance proceeding, and monitor the impacts on
ratepayers of energy storage technologies.
2)Costs to CEC would be absorbable, except one position might be
needed in the future, at a cost of $100,000, to review POU
compliance with the 2016 and 2021 targets.
COMMENTS : The most common form of energy storage device in use
today is batteries. However, there are no commercially
available batteries that could cost-effectively store the large
amounts of electricity that can be produced by large-scale wind
farms or solar facilities. Another form of electricity storage
that is already in use in California is pump storage, where
water is pumped into a reservoir at night and then released
through turbines during the day to produce electricity.
Additional research is taking place to develop other storage
devices using compressed air, flywheels, fuel cells, and other
innovative technologies. In addition, the utilities are
currently engaged in pilot projects to determine the viability
of different energy storage projects and which technologies
perform most effectively in different environments.
Analysis Prepared by : Gina Adams / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083
AB 2514
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FN: 0006673