Amended in Senate June 6, 2016

Amended in Senate September 4, 2015

Amended in Senate August 18, 2015

Amended in Senate June 23, 2015

Amended in Assembly June 1, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 6, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 33


Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chávez, Jones, and Weber)

(Coauthors: Senators Anderson and Hueso)

December 1, 2014


An act to add Sectionbegin delete 454.53end deletebegin insert 2836.8end insert to the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 33, as amended, Quirk. Electrical corporations:begin delete procurement plans.end deletebegin insert energy storage systems.end insert

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined.begin delete The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to review and adopt an overall procurement plan for each electrical corporation to meet electricity demand for its customers in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act requires the commission to review and accept, modify, or reject each electrical corporation’s procurement plan and requires that each approved procurement plan accomplish specified objectives.end deletebegin insert Existing law requires the commission to open a proceeding to determine appropriate targets, if any, for each load-serving entity, as defined, to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems to be achieved by December 31, 2015, and December 31, 2020. If determined to be appropriate, the commission is required to adopt the procurement targets, by October 1, 2013, and to reevaluate the determinations not less than once every three years. Pursuant to these requirements the commission adopted Decision 13-10-040 (October 17, 2013), Decision Adopting Energy Storage Procurement Framework and Design Program.end insert

begin delete

This bill would require the commission, as part of a new or existing proceeding, to determine what role large scale energy storage could play as part of the state’s overall strategy for procuring a diverse portfolio of resources and to consider specified factors in making that determination.

end delete
begin insert

If, beginning January 1, 2017, the commission increases the targets for a load-serving entity to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems, this bill would require the commission to authorize pumped hydroelectric storage facilities of any size that become operational on or after January 1, 2017, to be eligible to meet those requirements, without limit, to the extent that those facilities meet otherwise applicable requirements.

end insert

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

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

P2    1begin insert

begin insertSECTION 1.end insert  

end insert

begin insertThe Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:end insert

begin insert

3
(a) According to the California Independent System Operator
4(ISO), the state is experiencing unprecedented changes in the
5generation, delivery, and consumption of electricity. Along with
6these changes come challenges for operating the state’s electrical
7grid and resources in the most efficient manner, particularly in
8terms of timing of generation in relation to the demand for
9 electricity.

end insert
begin insert

10
(b) As part of the long term procurement planning process at
11the Public Utilities Commission, the ISO has identified a need for
12fast-ramping and flexible resources to balance the electrical grid
P3    1and mitigate the effects of over-generation from renewable energy
2resources.

end insert
begin insert

3
(c) The ISO has identified energy storage, with its unique ability
4to both utilize excess electricity generated by renewable energy
5resources and to quickly inject that electricity back onto the
6electrical grid to meet ramping and peak demand needs, as a part
7of the new strategy for efficiently operating the electrical grid in
8a manner that best protects the environment.

end insert
begin insert

9
(d) Pumped hydroelectric storage, in particular, when
10constructed in a sufficiently large scale, possesses the
11characteristics to meet our electrical grid’s need for rapid ramping
12capability and the capacity to utilize over-generation from
13renewable energy resources.

end insert
begin insert

14
(e) Even with the recognized need identified by the ISO, there
15remains a lack of incentive for the state’s electrical utilities to
16procure large pumped hydroelectric energy storage because that
17procurement does not meet any current utility mandate.

end insert
18begin insert

begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 2836.8 is added to the end insertbegin insertPublic Utilities Codeend insertbegin insert,
19to read:end insert

begin insert
20

begin insert2836.8.end insert  

Beginning January 1, 2017, if the commission increases
21the targets for a load-serving entity to procure viable and
22cost-effective energy storage systems, pumped hydroelectric
23storage facilities of any size that become operational on or after
24January 1, 2017, shall be eligible without limit to the extent that
25those facilities meet otherwise applicable requirements.

end insert
begin delete26

SECTION 1.  

Section 454.53 is added to the Public Utilities
27Code
, to read:

28

454.53.  

The commission shall, as part of a new or existing
29proceeding, determine what role, if any, large scale energy storage
30could play as part of the state’s overall strategy for procuring a
31diverse portfolio of resources and, in making that determination,
32shall consider factors including, but not limited to,
33cost-effectiveness, the projected value of renewable integration
34services, and indirect greenhouse gas emissions reductions over
35the anticipated life of the large scale energy storage resource.

end delete


O

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