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 23, 2013      Consultant: Marie Liu
          
          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.