BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1923
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1923 (Wood) - As Amended April 14, 2016
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|Policy |Utilities and Commerce |Vote:|15 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the California Public Utilities Commission
(PUC) to direct electrical corporations to authorize a bioenergy
electric generation facility with a nameplate (total possible
output) generating capacity of up to 5 MW to participate in the
bioenergy feed-in tariff, if the facility delivers no more than
3 MW to the grid at any time and complies with specified
interconnection and payment requirements.
AB 1923
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FISCAL EFFECT:
One-time, short-term increased PUC workload absorbable within
existing resources. However, this increased workload may
potentially delay implementation of other RPS programs and
policies.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, the current 3 MW
restriction makes it difficult for small biomass companies in
Humboldt County to compete in the renewable energy market.
New 3MW generators are expensive products and used 3 MW
generators are difficult to purchase as opposed to used 5 MW
generators. This bill allows a 5 MW generator to be used if
it operates at a maximum of 3 MW.
2)Background. A Feed-in Tariff (FIT) is a contract that
provides a guaranteed fixed payment for the energy produced.
All investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and publicly owned
utilities (POUs) that serve more than 75,000 retail customers
are required to develop a standard contract or tariff
available for renewable energy facilities up to 3 MWs capped
at 250 MWs statewide allocated as follows:
a) 110 MWs for biogas from wastewater treatment, municipal
organic waste diversion, food processing, and codigestion;
b) 90 MWs for dairy and other agricultural bioenergy; and
c) 50 MWs for bioenergy using byproducts of sustainable
AB 1923
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forest management (biomass)
This bill limits the 5MW capacity to projects from the 50MW
set-aside for biomass.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081