BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1332
Author: Negrete McLeod (D)
Amended: 6/7/12
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
SENATE FLOOR : 21-12, 5/25/12
AYES: Alquist, Blakeslee, Corbett, Correa, De León,
DeSaulnier, Evans, Hernandez, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal,
Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Steinberg,
Vargas, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Cannella, Dutton, Emmerson,
Fuller, Gaines, Harman, Huff, La Malfa, Walters, Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Hancock, Kehoe, Runner,
Simitian, Strickland, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-27, 8/20/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Renewable energy resources: electric utilities
SOURCE : Clean Coalition
DIGEST : This bill requires the governing board of a
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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 requires
that the specified publicly-owned utilities (POUs) adopt a
Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) by July 1, 2013.
Assembly Amendments delete avoided costs and changes the
date that POUs must adopt FiT from March 1, 2013 to July 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
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.
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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.
Comments
To date only four of the nine POUs have implemented FIT
required by current law. Without a clear timeframe for
program implementation POUs may continue to delay program
development.
Further, of the three POUs that have implemented the
program, participation has varied widely. The Sacramento
Municipal Utility District implemented their FIT in a
manner that fully subscribed their program on the day it
became available. However, Anaheim and Riverside have yet
to attract developer interest. This is likely due to the
fact that the original bill, SB 32 (Negrete McLeod),
Chapter 328, Statutes of 2009, did not provide sufficient
direction in what should be considered when developing the
rate to be paid under FIT contracts.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, any
costs for each of POUs to meet the additional mandates of
this bill will be recovered from their ratepayers.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/21/12)
Clean Coalition (source)
American Biogas Council
Los Angeles Business Council
Sierra Club California
Solar Developers Council
Union of Concerned Scientists
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OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/21/12)
Southern California Public Power Authority
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-27, 8/20/12
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block,
Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez,
Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly,
Beth Gaines, Garrick, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Halderman,
Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller,
Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth,
Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Furutani, Roger Hernández
RM:n 8/21/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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