BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 645
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Anthony Rendon, Chair
AB 645
(Williams) - As Introduced February 24, 2015
SUBJECT: Electricity: California Renewables Portfolio Standard
SUMMARY: This bill would increase the State's Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS) from 33% to 50%. Specifically, this
bill:
a)Requires retail electricity sellers to procure renewable
energy resources sufficient to achieve 50% of retail sales by
December 31, 2030, and 50% of retail sales thereafter.
b)Requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to
establish the quantity of eligible resources to be procured by
each retail electricity seller for the compliance periods
specified.
c)Requires the governing boards of local public owned utilities
to procure renewable energy resources sufficient to achieve
50% of retail sales by December 31, 2030, and 50% of retail
sales thereafter.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)States the California Renewables Portfolio Standard program
requires investor owned utilities, local publicly owned
utilities and energy service providers to increase purchases
of renewable energy such that at least 33% of retail sales are
procured from a renewable energy resource by December 31,
2020. (Public Utilities Code §399.11)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement . "California is a leader in reducing
greenhouse gases from electricity generation while maintaining
an affordable and reliable electricity system. The Renewable
Portfolio Standard has been a resounding success and a prime
example of California's work on climate change and utilities
are well on-track to achieving 33% renewable energy by 2020.
The RPS has led to the development of new solar, wind, and
geothermal power plants, as well as related manufacturing and
services. These investments have created hundreds of
thousands of new jobs, millions of new investment and tax
dollars, and significant clean air and climate benefits.
However, all the scenarios for achieving long-term climate
change goals rely on further increasing zero-carbon energy
resources and replacing fossil fuel as an energy source.
Significantly boosting the requirement to procure renewable
electricity is a key component of this strategy, and AB 645
does this by increasing the RPS to 50% by 2030."
2)History of RPS. Established in 2002 under SB 1078 (Sher,
Chapter 516, Statutes of 2002), California's RPS was
accelerated in 2006 under SB 107 (Simitian, Chapter 464,
Statutes of 2006) by requiring that 20% of electricity retail
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sales be served by renewable energy resources by 2010.
Finally, SB X1-2 (Simitian, Chapter 1, Statutes of 2011)
established a 33% by 2020 goal and was signed by Governor
Brown in 2011.
3)Additional Procurement Goals and Timelines to reach 50%. AB
645 adds additional procurement goals and timelines to the
RPS.
Specifically, the bill requires all electricity retailers in
the state, including publicly owned utilities, investor-owned
utilities, electricity service providers, and community choice
aggregators to procure 50% renewable energy by 2030. All of
these entities must adopt new RPS goals of 38% of retail sales
from renewables by the end of 2023, 44% by the end of 2026,
and 50% by the end of 2030.
4)Governor's Inaugural Address. In the Governor's January 5,
2015 Inaugural Address, he stated the following with respect
to renewables:
"Toward that end, I propose three ambitious goals to be
accomplished within the next 15 years:
Increase from one-third to 50 percent our
electricity derived from renewable sources;
Reduce today's petroleum use in cars and trucks by
up to 50 percent;
Double the efficiency of existing buildings and make
heating fuels cleaner.
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I envision a wide range of initiatives: more distributed
power, expanded rooftop solar, micro-grids, an energy
imbalance market, battery storage, the full integration of
information technology and electrical distribution and
millions of electric and low-carbon vehicles."
1)Distributed Energy Resources. For the most part, the
procurement process for the RPS favors large scale renewable
projects. Other programs, such as the California Solar
Initiative, the Self-Generation Incentive Program, the Feed in
Tariff for Small Renewable Generators, and the Combined Heat
and Power Tariff have focused on increasing the use of
distributed power, expanded rooftop solar, microgrids, and
battery storage.
The CPUC recognized that RPS presented barriers to smaller
renewable projects and authorized a program called the
"Renewable Auction Mechanism" to facilitate an increase in
projects sized below 20 megawatts (MWs). In addition, the
Legislature enacted a small generator feed in tariff for
projects sized below 3 MWs. Many of these smaller projects
are located in the Central Valley (Kern County) and sell power
to retail sellers of electricity throughout the state.
2)Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Stabilizing greenhouse
gas (GHG) emission at 450 parts per mission will reduce the
likelihood of catastrophic climate change, according to the
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recently updated Scoping Plan<1> by the California Air
Resources Board:
"While the path to limit emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 is
transformative in its own right, reducing emissions to meet the
State's long-range objectives will require continued progress
toward efficient clean energy in every sector of the economy and
new opportunities to value and integrate agricultural, natural,
and working lands into a comprehensive climate policy framework.
The State's 2050 objective of reducing emissions to 80 percent
below 1990 levels, as reflected in Executive Order S-3-05 and
Governor Brown's Executive Order B-16-2012 (which is specific to
the transportation sector), is consistent with an
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) analysis of the
emissions trajectory that would stabilize the atmospheric GHG
concentrations at 450 parts per million carbon dioxide
equivalent and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic climate
change ." [emphasis added]
"Scientific research indicates that an increase in the global
average temperature of 2?C (3.6?F) above pre-industrial levels,
which is only 1.1?C (2.0?F) above present levels, poses severe
risks to natural systems and human health and well-being.
Considering knowledge from the paleo-climate record with changes
currently observed in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, we
can expect substantial sea level rise, 0.4 to 0.8 meters, with
upper end uncertainties approaching one meter above present day
during the 21st Century and continued substantial increase after
2100 even with stringent mitigation of emissions to achieve 2?C
---------------------------
<1>
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/2013_update/first_update_cli
mate_change_scoping_plan.pdf
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stabilization. Increased climate extremes, already apparent at
present day climate warming (~0.9?C), will no doubt be more
severe. To have a good chance (not a guarantee) of avoiding
temperatures above those levels, studies focused on a goal of
stabilizing the concentration of heat-trapping gases in the
atmosphere at or below the 450 parts per million (ppm)
CO2-equivalent (CO2e, a metric that combines the climate impact
of all well- mixed GHGs, such as methane and nitrous oxide, in
terms of CO2)."
3)Related Legislation.
Current Legislation:
AB 197 (Garcia, 2015)
SB 350 (de Leon, 2015) referred to Senate Energy.
Prior:
AB 177 (V.M. Perez, 2013 died on the Assembly Floor.)
AB 327 (Perea, Statutes of 2013, Chapter 611.)
SB 760 (Wright, 2013, died in Assembly Utilities & Commerce
Committee.)
SB 1139 (Hueso, 2014, died on the Assembly Floor.)
4)Double Referred. This bill is double-referred to Natural
Resources.
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5)Support and Opposition.
Supporters state that AB 645 will advance California's efforts
to reduce GHG emissions from the electricity sector.
The California Municipal Utilities Association neither
supports nor opposes AB 645, but instead expresses concern
that any renewable energy goals post-2020 should allow options
for locally elected governing boards to innovate and tailor
solutions to local community needs and minimize cost to
consumers while increasing renewable energy in their service
areas.
The California Manufacturers and Technology Association states
that manufacturers currently pay a high premium for
electricity rates, and that increasing the RPS arbitrarily
risks higher rates.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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California Hydropower Reform Coalition
California League of Conservation Voters
California Wind Energy Association
California Biomass Energy Alliance
Clean Power Campaign
Energy Source
Environmental Action Committee West Marin
Environment California
Environmental Defense Fund
Independent Energy Producers
Large Scale Solar
Natural Resources Defense Counsel
NextGen Climate
Office of Ratepayer Advocates
Sierra Club California
State Building and Construction Trades Council
TURN
Union of Concerned Scientists
Vote Solar
Opposition
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
Analysis Prepared by:Sue Kateley / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083
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