BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1923 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 1923 (Wood) - As Amended April 14, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Utilities and Commerce |Vote:|15 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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 Page 3 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