BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  SB 1332|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SB 1332
          Author:   Negrete McLeod (D)
          Amended:  4/26/12
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES & COMMUN. COMM.  :  7-5, 04/17/12
          AYES:  Padilla, Corbett, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Pavley, Rubio, 
            Simitian
          NOES:  Fuller, Berryhill, Emmerson, Strickland, Wright
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  De León

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8


           SUBJECT  :    Renewable energy resources:  electric utilities

           SOURCE  :     Clean Coalition


           DIGEST  :    This bill requires the governing board of a 
          local publicly owned utility to consider avoided costs of 
          distribution and transmission upgrades, the offset of peak 
          demand and all current and anticipated environmental and 
          greenhouse gas reduction compliance costs and avoided 
          costs, and requires that the specified publicly-owned 
          utilities (POUs) adopt a Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) by March 1, 
          2013.

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law requires all investor-owned 
          utilities (IOUs) and POUs, that serve more than 75,000 
          retail customers, to develop a standard contract or tariff 
          (aka FiT) available for renewable energy facilities up to 
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          three megawatts (MWs).  Statewide participation is capped 
          at 750 MWs. 

          Existing law requires the FiT contract price for IOUs to 
          include all current and anticipated environmental 
          compliance costs, including but not limited to, mitigation 
          of emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollution offsets 
          associated with the operation of new generating facilities 
          in the local air pollution control or air quality 
          management district where the electric generation facility 
          is located.

           What is a Feed-in-Tariff  ? - A FiT is a simple, 
          comprehensible, transparent contracting mechanism for small 
          renewable generators to sell power to a utility at 
          predefined terms and conditions, without contract 
          negotiations. For the IOUs, the FiT operates as a 
          "must-take" contract in its portfolio. If the participant 
          generates the power, the IOU must take it and pay for it 
          according to the pre-defined terms of the FiT.

          Small renewable generator FiTs are available in the 
          territories of the three largest IOUs and provide a 10, 15, 
          or 20-year fixed-price, non-negotiable contract for systems 
          sized up to 1.5 MW.  The California Public Utilities 
          Commission has a rulemaking open to implement the terms of 
          SB 32 (Negrete McLeod, 2009) and expand the IOU FiT to 3 
          MWs.  The total program allocation between the three IOUs, 
          is approximately 500 MWs.

           Applicable POUs  - Existing law requires that only the 
          largest POUs adopt a FiT and specifies that those serving a 
          population of 75,000 customers or more make a FiT available 
          to renewable developers in those territories. The affected 
          POUs are: Anaheim, Glendale, Imperial, Los Angeles, 
          Modesto, Riverside, Turlock, and Sacramento.  The total 
          program allocation between the nine POUs is approximately 
          250 MWs.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes   
          Local:  Yes

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  5/21/12)








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          Clean Coalition (source) 
          American Biogas Council
          Los Angeles Business Council
          Sierra Club California
          Solar Developers Council
          Union of Concerned Scientists

           OPPOSITION  :    (Verified  5/21/12)

          Southern California Public Power Authority


          RM:nl  5/21/12   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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