AB 1144, as amended, Rendon. California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: unbundled renewable energy credits.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The existing definition of an electrical corporation excludes from that definition a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology or digester gas technology for the generation of electricity for (1) its own use or the use of not more than 2 of its tenants located on the real property on which the electricity is generated, (2) the use of or sale to not more than 2 other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated, or (3) the sale or transmission to an electrical corporation or state or local public agency, if the sale or transmission of the electricity service to a retail customer is provided through the transmission system of the existing local publicly owned electric utility or electrical corporation of that retail customer.
The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, at specified percentages of the total kilowatthours sold to their retail end-customers during specified compliance periods. The program additionally requires each local publicly owned electric utility, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources to achieve the targets established by the program. The 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 unbundled renewable energy credits may be used to meet the first category of the portfolio content requirements if (1) the credits are earned by electricity that is generated by an entity that, if it were a person or corporation, would be excluded from the definition of an electrical corporation by operation of the exclusions for a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology or digester gas technology, (2) the entity employing the landfill gas technology or digester gas technology has a first point of interconnection with a California balancing authority, a first point of interconnection with distribution facilities used to serve end users within a California balancing authority area, or are scheduled from the eligible renewable energy resource into a California balancing authority without substituting electricity from another source, and (3) where the electricity
generated that earned the credit is used at abegin insert wastewater treatmentend insert facilitybegin insert that isend insert owned by a publicbegin delete entity.end deletebegin insert entity and first put into service on or after January 1, 2016.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:
Section 399.16 of the Public Utilities Code is
2amended to read:
(a) Various electricity products from eligible renewable
4energy resources located within the WECC transmission network
5service area shall be eligible to comply with the renewables
6portfolio standard procurement requirements in Section 399.15.
7These electricity products may be differentiated by their impacts
8on the operation of the grid in supplying electricity, as well as,
9meeting the requirements of this article.
P3 1(b) Consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost and
2best-fit electricity products from eligible renewable energy
3resources that meet project viability principles adopted by the
4commission pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section
5399.13 and that
provide the benefits set forth in Section 399.11, a
6balanced portfolio of eligible renewable energy resources shall be
7procured consisting of the following portfolio content categories:
8(1) Eligible renewable energy resource electricity products that
9meet any of the following criteria:
10(A) Have a first point of interconnection with a California
11balancing authority, have a first point of interconnection with
12distribution facilities used to serve end users within a California
13balancing authority area, or are scheduled from the eligible
14renewable energy resource into a California balancing authority
15without substituting electricity from another source. The use of
16another source to provide real-time ancillary services required to
17maintain an hourly or subhourly import schedule into a California
18balancing
authority shall be permitted, but only the fraction of the
19schedule actually generated by the eligible renewable energy
20resource shall count toward this portfolio content category.
21(B) Have an agreement to dynamically transfer electricity to a
22California balancing authority.
23(C) Unbundled renewable energy credits that are earned by
24electricity that is generated by an entity that, if it were a person or
25corporation, would be excluded from the definition of an electrical
26corporation by operation of subdivision (c) or (d) of Section 218,
27that meets the criteria of subparagraph (A), and where the
28electricity generated that earned the credit is used at abegin insert wastewater
29treatmentend insert facilitybegin insert
that isend insert owned by a publicbegin delete entity.end deletebegin insert entity and first
30put into service on or after January 1, 2016.end insert
31(2) Firmed and shaped eligible renewable energy resource
32electricity products providing incremental electricity and scheduled
33into a California balancing authority.
34(3) Eligible renewable energy resource electricity products, or
35any fraction of the electricity generated, including unbundled
36renewable energy credits, that do not qualify under the criteria of
37paragraph (1) or (2).
38(c) In order to achieve a balanced
portfolio, all retail sellers
39shall meet the following requirements for all procurement credited
40toward each compliance period:
P4 1(1) Not less than 50 percent for the compliance period ending
2December 31, 2013, 65 percent for the compliance period ending
3December 31, 2016, and 75 percent thereafter of the eligible
4renewable energy resource electricity products associated with
5contracts executed after June 1, 2010, shall meet the product
6content requirements of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
7(2) Not more than 25 percent for the compliance period ending
8December 31, 2013, 15 percent for the compliance period ending
9December 31, 2016, and 10 percent thereafter of the eligible
10renewable energy resource electricity products associated with
11contracts executed after June 1, 2010,
shall meet the product
12content requirements of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b).
13(3) Any renewable energy resources contracts executed on or
14after June 1, 2010, not subject to the limitations of paragraph (1)
15or (2), shall meet the product content requirements of paragraph
16(2) of subdivision (b).
17(4) For purposes of electric service providers only, the
18restrictions in this subdivision on crediting eligible renewable
19energy resource electricity products to each compliance period
20shall apply to contracts executed after January 13, 2011.
21(d) Any contract or ownership agreement originally executed
22prior to June 1, 2010, shall count in full toward the procurement
23requirements established pursuant to this article, if all of the
24following
conditions are met:
25(1) The renewable energy resource was eligible under the rules
26in place as of the date when the contract was executed.
27(2) For an electrical corporation, the contract has been approved
28by the commission, even if that approval occurs after June 1, 2010.
29(3) Any contract amendments or modifications occurring after
30June 1, 2010, do not increase the nameplate capacity or expected
31quantities of annual generation, or substitute a different renewable
32energy resource. The duration of the contract may be extended if
33the original contract specified a procurement commitment of 15
34or more years.
35(e) A retail seller may apply to the commission for a reduction
36of
a procurement content requirement of subdivision (c). The
37commission may reduce a procurement content requirement of
38subdivision (c) to the extent the retail seller demonstrates that it
39cannot comply with that subdivision because of conditions beyond
40the control of the retail seller as provided in paragraph (5) of
P5 1subdivision (b) of Section 399.15. The commission shall not, under
2any circumstance, reduce the obligation specified in paragraph (1)
3of subdivision (c) below 65 percent for any compliance obligation
4after December 31, 2016.
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