BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 767 (Lieu) - Public utilities: California Renewables
Portfolio Standard Program: biomethane.
Amended: April 4, 2013 Policy Vote: EU&C 7-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 13, 2013 Consultant: Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 767 would extend the deadline, from April 1,
2014 to April 1, 2015, for biomethane to be injected into a
common carrier pipeline in order for it to count towards the
procurement requirements established by the Renewables Portfolio
Standards (RPS).
Fiscal Impact: One-time costs of approximately $75,000 from the
Energy Resources Programs Account (General Fund) to update the
RPS Guidebook in FY 2013-14.
Background: The Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requires
investor-owned utilities, publically owned utilities, community
choice aggregators, and energy service providers to increase
purchases of renewable energy so that 33% of total retail sales
are procured from renewable energy resources by December 31,
2020. In the interim, each entity would be required to procure
an average of 20% of renewable energy for the period of January
1, 2011 through December 31, 2013 and 25% by December 31, 2016.
(PUC �399.11 et seq.)
Current law allows an electrical generation facility that uses
landfill gas or digester gas (biomethane) delivered through a
common carrier pipeline to be eligible as a renewable facility
if the contract date for the fuel was executed before March 29,
2012 and the biomethane begins to flow before April 1, 2014.
This is commonly referred to as the flow date.
Proposed Law: This bill would extend the flow date deadline by
one year to April 1, 2015.
Related Legislation: AB 2196 (Chesbro) Chapter 605/2012
clarified biomethane's eligibility as a renewable based on the
SB 767 (Lieu)
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contract execution date between the biomethane supplier and the
utility and the flow date.
Staff Comments: On April 30, 2013, the CEC adopted RPS
Eligibility Guidebook, Seventh Edition that describes the
eligibility requirements and process for certifying all
renewable energy resources for RPS. This bill would require the
guidebook to be modified to reflect the new flow date at a cost
of approximately $75,000.
Staff notes that the recently adopted guidebook lifts the
suspension on biomethane as an eligible renewable fuel source.
The suspension had been in place since 2011.