Amended in Assembly August 20, 2013

Amended in Assembly August 6, 2013

Amended in Assembly June 25, 2013

Amended in Senate May 28, 2013

Amended in Senate April 10, 2013

Senate BillNo. 591


Introduced by Senator Cannella

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Gray)

February 22, 2013


An act to amend Section 399.30 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to renewable energy resources.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 591, as amended, Cannella. Renewable energy resources: local publicly owned electric utility: hydroelectric generation facility.

The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, referred to as the RPS program, requires a retail seller of electricity, as defined, and local publicly owned electric utilities to purchase specified minimum quantities of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, for specified compliance periods, sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources achieves 20% of retail sales for the period from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013, inclusive, 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, and 33% of retail sales by December 31, 2020, and in all subsequent years. The RPS program, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project viability principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as specified, referred to as the portfolio content requirements.

This bill would provide that a local publicly owned electric utility is not required to procure additional eligible renewable energy resources in excess of specified levels, if it receives 50% or greater of its annual retail sales from its own hydrodelectric generation meeting specified requirements.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 399.30 of the Public Utilities Code is
2amended to read:

3

399.30.  

(a) To fulfill unmet long-term generation resource
4needs, each local publicly owned electric utility shall adopt and
5implement a renewable energy resources procurement plan that
6requires the utility to procure a minimum quantity of electricity
7products from eligible renewable energy resources, including
8renewable energy credits, as a specified percentage of total
9kilowatthours sold to the utility’s retail end-use customers, each
10compliance period, to achieve the targets of subdivision (c).

11(b) The governing board shall implement procurement targets
12for a local publicly owned electric utility that require the utility to
13procure a minimum quantity of eligible renewable energy resources
14for each of the following compliance periods:

15(1) January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013, inclusive.

16(2) January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2016, inclusive.

17(3) January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2020, inclusive.

18(c) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility
19shall ensure all of the following:

20(1) The quantities of eligible renewable energy resources to be
21procured for the compliance period from January 1, 2011, to
22December 31, 2013, inclusive, are equal to an average of 20 percent
23of retail sales.

24(2) The quantities of eligible renewable energy resources to be
25procured for all other compliance periods reflect reasonable
26progress in each of the intervening years sufficient to ensure that
27the procurement of electricity products from eligible renewable
P3    1energy resources achieves 25 percent of retail sales by December
231, 2016, and 33 percent of retail sales by December 31, 2020.
3The local governing board shall require the local publicly owned
4electric utilities to procure not less than 33 percent of retail sales
5of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources
6in all subsequent years.

7(3) A local publicly owned electric utility shall adopt
8procurement requirements consistent with Section 399.16.

9(d) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility
10may adopt the following measures:

11(1) Rules permitting the utility to apply excess procurement in
12one compliance period to subsequent compliance periods in the
13same manner as allowed for retail sellers pursuant to Section
14399.13.

15(2) Conditions that allow for delaying timely compliance
16consistent with subdivision (b) of Section 399.15.

17(3) Cost limitations for procurement expenditures consistent
18with subdivision (c) of Section 399.15.

19(e) The governing board of the local publicly owned electric
20utility shall adopt a program for the enforcement of this article on
21or before January 1, 2012. The program shall be adopted at a
22publicly noticed meeting offering all interested parties an
23opportunity to comment. Not less than 30 days’ notice shall be
24given to the public of any meeting held for purposes of adopting
25the program. Not less than 10 days’ notice shall be given to the
26public before any meeting is held to make a substantive change to
27the program.

28(f) (1) Each local publicly owned electric utility shall annually
29post notice, in accordance with Chapter 9 (commencing with
30Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government
31Code, whenever its governing body will deliberate in public on its
32renewable energy resources procurement plan.

33(2) Contemporaneous with the posting of the notice of a public
34meeting to consider the renewable energy resources procurement
35plan, the local publicly owned electric utility shall notify the
36Energy Commission of the date, time, and location of the meeting
37in order to enable the Energy Commission to post the information
38on its Internet Web site. This requirement is satisfied if the local
39publicly owned electric utility provides the uniform resource
40 locator (URL) that links to this information.

P4    1(3) Upon distribution to its governing body of information
2related to its renewable energy resources procurement status and
3future plans, for its consideration at a noticed public meeting, the
4local publicly owned electric utility shall make that information
5available to the public and shall provide the Energy Commission
6with an electronic copy of the documents for posting on the Energy
7Commission’s Internet Web site. This requirement is satisfied if
8the local publicly owned electric utility provides the uniform
9resource locator (URL) that links to the documents or information
10regarding other manners of access to the documents.

11(g) A public utility district that receives all of its electricity
12pursuant to a preference right adopted and authorized by the United
13States Congress pursuant to Section 4 of the Trinity River Division
14Act of August 12, 1955 (Public Law 84-386) shall be in compliance
15with the renewable energy procurement requirements of this article.

16(h) For a local publicly owned electric utility that was in
17existence on or before January 1, 2009, that provides retail electric
18service to 15,000 or fewer customer accounts in California, and is
19interconnected to a balancing authority located outside this state
20but within the WECC, an eligible renewable energy resource
21includes a facility that is located outside California that is
22connected to the WECC transmission system, if all of the following
23conditions are met:

24(1) The electricity generated by the facility is procured by the
25local publicly owned electric utility, is delivered to the balancing
26authority area in which the local publicly owned electric utility is
27located, and is not used to fulfill renewable energy procurement
28requirements of other states.

29(2) The local publicly owned electric utility participates in, and
30complies with, the accounting system administered by the Energy
31Commission pursuant to this article.

32(3) The Energy Commission verifies that the electricity
33generated by the facility is eligible to meet the renewables portfolio
34standard procurement requirements.

35(i) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), for a local publicly owned
36electric utility that is a joint powers authority of districts established
37pursuant to state law on or before January 1, 2005, that furnish
38electric services other than to residential customers, and is formed
39pursuant to the Irrigation District Law (Division 11 (commencing
40with Section 20500) of the Water Code), the percentage of total
P5    1kilowatthours sold to the district’s retail end-use customers, upon
2which the renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements
3in subdivision (b) are calculated, shall be based on the authority’s
4average retail sales over the previous seven years. If the authority
5has not furnished electric service for seven years, then the
6calculation shall be based on average retail sales over the number
7of completed years during which the authority has provided electric
8service.

9(j) A local publicly owned electric utility in a city and county
10that only receives greater than 67 percent of its electricity sources
11from hydroelectric generation located within the state that it owns
12and operates, and that does not meet the definition of a “renewable
13electrical generation facility” pursuant to Section 25741 of the
14Public Resources Code, shall be required to procure eligible
15renewable energy resources, including renewable energy credits,
16to meet only the electricity demands unsatisfied by its hydroelectric
17generation in any given year, in order to satisfy its renewable
18energy procurement requirements.

19(k) (1) A local publicly owned electric utility that receives
20greater than 50 percent of its annual retail sales from its own
21hydroelectric generation that is not an eligible renewable energy
22resource shall not be required to procure additional eligible
23renewable energy resources in excess of either of the following:

24(A) The portion of its retail sales not supplied by its own
25hydroelectric generation.begin insert For these purposes, retail sales supplied
26by an increase in hydroelectric generation resulting from an
27increase in the amount of water stored by a dam because the dam
28is enlarged or otherwise modified after December 31, 2012, shall
29not count as being retail sales supplied by the utility’s own
30hydroelectric generation.end insert

31(B) The cost limitation adopted pursuant to this section.

32(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, “hydroelectric
33 generation” means electricity generated from a hydroelectric
34facility that satisfies all of the following:

35(A) Is owned solely and operated by the local publicly owned
36electric utility as of 1967.

37(B) Serves a local publicly owned electric utility with a
38distribution system demand of less than 150 megawatts.

39(C) Involves a contract in which an electrical corporation
40receives the benefit of the electric generation through June of 2014,
P6    1at which time the benefit reverts back to the ownership and control
2of the local publicly owned electric utility.

3(D) Has a maximum penstock flow capacity of no more than
43,200 cubic feet per second and includes a regulating reservoir
5with a small hydroelectric generation facility producing fewer than
620 megawatts with a maximum penstock flow capacity of no more
7than 3,000 cubic feet per second.

8(3) This subdivision does not reduce or eliminate any renewable
9procurement requirement for any compliance period ending prior
10to January 1, 2014.

begin insert

11(4) This subdivision does not require a local publicly owned
12electric utility to purchase additional eligible renewable energy
13resources in excess of the procurement requirements of subdivision
14(c).

end insert

15(l) A local publicly owned electric utility shall retain discretion
16over both of the following:

17(1) The mix of eligible renewable energy resources procured
18by the utility and those additional generation resources procured
19by the utility for purposes of ensuring resource adequacy and
20reliability.

21(2) The reasonable costs incurred by the utility for eligible
22renewable energy resources owned by the utility.

23(m) On or before July 1, 2011, the Energy Commission shall
24adopt regulations specifying procedures for enforcement of this
25article. The regulations shall include a public process under which
26the Energy Commission may issue a notice of violation and
27correction against a local publicly owned electric utility for failure
28to comply with this article, and for referral of violations to the
29State Air Resources Board for penalties pursuant to subdivision
30(o).

31(n) (1) Upon a determination by the Energy Commission that
32a local publicly owned electric utility has failed to comply with
33this article, the Energy Commission shall refer the failure to comply
34with this article to the State Air Resources Board, which may
35impose penalties to enforce this article consistent with Part 6
36(commencing with Section 38580) of Division 25.5 of the Health
37and Safety Code. Any penalties imposed shall be comparable to
38those adopted by the commission for noncompliance by retail
39sellers.

P7    1(2) If Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the
2Health and Safety Code is suspended or repealed, the State Air
3Resources Board may take action to enforce this article on local
4publicly owned electric utilities consistent with Section 41513 of
5the Health and Safety Code, and impose penalties on a local
6publicly owned electric utility consistent with Article 3
7(commencing with Section 42400) of Chapter 4 of Part 4 of, and
8Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 43025) of Part 5 of,
9Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code.

10(3) For the purpose of this subdivision, this section is an
11emissions reduction measure pursuant to Section 38580 of the
12Health and Safety Code.

13(4) If the State Air Resources Board has imposed a penalty upon
14a local publicly owned electric utility for the utility’s failure to
15comply with this article, the State Air Resources Board shall not
16impose an additional penalty for the same infraction, or the same
17failure to comply, with any renewables procurement requirement
18imposed upon the utility pursuant to the California Global Warming
19Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section
2038500) of the Health and Safety Code).

21(5) Any penalties collected by the State Air Resources Board
22pursuant to this article shall be deposited in the Air Pollution
23Control Fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, shall be
24expended for reducing emissions of air pollution or greenhouse
25gases within the same geographic area as the local publicly owned
26electric utility.

27(o) The commission has no authority or jurisdiction to enforce
28any of the requirements of this article on a local publicly owned
29electric utility.



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