BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS Senator Ben Hueso, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: AB 2454 Hearing Date: 6/27/2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Williams | |-----------+-----------------------------------------------------| |Version: |5/31/2016 As Amended | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|Jay Dickenson | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Energy: procurement plans DIGEST: This bill requires an investor-owned utility (IOU) to demonstrably undertake all feasible efforts to meet any identified resource need through available renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable and feasible prior to contracting for any new or repowered gas-fired generation resources. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Requires electric utilities to procure 50 percent of their retail sales of electricity from renewable energy by 2030. This is known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). (Public Utilities Code §399.11 et seq.) 2)Requires each IOU to file with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and requires the CPUC to review and accept, modify or reject each IOU's proposed electricity procurement plan. 3)Among other elements, the procurement plan must include a showing that it will achieve the IOU first meeting its unmet resource needs through all available energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. (Public Utilities Code §454.5) AB 2454 (Williams) PageB of? 4)Requires the CPUC to adopt a process for each IOU to file an integrated resource plan (IRP) to ensure IOUs meet the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets for the electricity sector; procure at least 50 percent eligible renewable energy resources by December 31, 2030; enable each IOU to fulfill its obligation to serve its customers at just and reasonable rates; minimize impacts on ratepayers' bills; ensure system and local reliability; strengthen the diversity, sustainability, and resilience of the bulk transmission and distribution systems, and local communities; enhance distribution systems and demand-side energy management; and minimize localized air pollutants and other GHG emissions, with early priority on disadvantaged communities. (Public Resources Code §454.52) This bill: 1)Requires an IOU's procurement plan to make a showing, in addition to the showings required by existing law, that the IOU will undertake all feasible efforts to meet any identified resource need through available renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. 2)Requires the CPUC, prior to approving a contract for any new or repowered gas-fired generation resource, to require the IOU demonstrate compliance with the preceding requirement. 3)Requires the CPUC, in determining the availability of energy demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible for purposes of reviewing an IOU's procurement plan, to consider the findings regarding technically and economically achievable demand reduction in specified studies and to the extent that any demand reduction is consistent with commission policy. Background Procurement plans tell how an IOU will procure electricity to meet the needs of its customers. The CPUC describes its long-term procurement plan (LTPP) proceedings as intended to ensure a safe, reliable and cost-effective electricity supply in California through integration and refinement of a comprehensive AB 2454 (Williams) PageC of? set of procurement policies, practices and procedures. LTPP proceedings take a 10-year-ahead look at system, local, and flexible needs. Proceeding assumptions are revised every two years to incorporate changes in the resource mix and revisions to state policies. An IOU's procurement plan - part of an LTPP proceeding - details what and how an IOU is going to procure. These plans must adhere to state policies, including the loading order, which mandates that utilities seek to meet need first though cost-effective energy efficiency and demand response, followed by procurement of renewable energy and, lastly, procurement of fossil-fuel-generated electricity. If an IOU's procurement plan does not comply with state policies or adequately balance safety, reliability, cost, and environmental goals, the CPUC orders the IOU to modify the plan. Demand response. Demand response refers to a variety of mechanisms by which an electricity customer may vary its demand for electricity in response to signals, such as a change in price or the availability of incentives. For example, time-of-use rates use price signals to encourage customers to reduce their use of electricity when the relative availability of electricity is low or, in some cases, to increase their electricity use when relative supply is abundant. The CPUC is currently considering establishing binding demand response goals applicable to the state's regulated electric utilities. As part of that consideration, the CPUC authorized a study to determine the potential of demand response as a resource to meet California's energy needs. In April of this year, a team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories issued phase one of the study.<1> The team will issue subsequent phases of the study. This bill seeks to ensure that the CPUC considers the study's findings regarding technically and economically achievable demand reduction when it review the IOU's procurement plans. Putting it into law: energy storage, demand response and the loading order. California utilities have procured increasing --------------------------- <1> file:///C:/Users/dickenjm/Downloads/CPUC%20CA%20DR%20Potential%20 Study_Phase1%20(1).pdf . AB 2454 (Williams) PageD of? amounts of electricity from renewable resources, in response to the state's RPS mandates. Much of this electricity has come from solar and wind energy resources. Such resources can be described as intermittent, meaning that they are not available at all times of the day and can experience difficult-to-predict upward or downward swings in electricity production. This intermittency creates challenges for management of the electric grid, one of which is the need to quickly respond to changes in demand for energy. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) reports that, to reliably manage the electricity grid with increasing amounts of intermittent generation resources, it needs flexible resources with certain characteristics. One flexible resource that provides many of the characteristics CAISO says will be needed to reliably manage the electricity grid is energy storage, which allows energy generated at one time to be used later. Current law requires an IOU's procurement plan to show that the IOU will first meet its unmet resource needs through all available energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. This bill adds an additional requirement that is at once very similar from existing law yet somewhat difference. Whereas current law addresses and IOU's "unmet resource needs," this bill addresses "identified resource need," by requiring an IOU's procurement plan to show how the IOU will take all feasible efforts to meet any "identified resource need" through available renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. In addition, this bill adds new teeth to the requirement, stating that the CPUC shall require the IOU to demonstrate compliance with the preceding requirement before approving a contract for any new or repowered gas-fired generation resource. It is unclear how "unmet resource needs," as used in existing law, differs from "identified resource need" as used in this bill. The author's office indicated that it viewed the terms the same. In that case, the author may wish to amend this bill to combine the requirements, as follows: Public Resources Code §454.5(b)(9) AB 2454 (Williams) PageE of? (C) (i) The electrical corporation shall first meet its unmet resource needs through all available renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. (ii) In determining the availability of cost-effective, reliable, and feasible demand reduction resources, the commission shall consider the findings regarding technically and economically achievable demand reduction in the Demand Response Potential Study required pursuant to Commission Order D.14-12-024, to the extent those findings are not superseded by other demand reduction studies conducted by academic institutions or government agencies, and to the extent that any demand reduction is consistent with commission policy.(D) (i) The electrical corporation shall undertake all feasible efforts to meet any identified resource need through available renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. (ii)(iii) Prior to approving a contract for any new or repowered gas-fired generation resource, the commission shall require the electrical corporation to demonstrate compliance with clause (i). This changes to Public Resources Code §454.5(b)(9)(C)(i) will align the law with state policy and the CPUC's practice. This bill also provides the CPUC with a mechanism to ensure compliance with "unmet resource needs" requirement. However, it is not clear the CPUC needs such enforcement authority. In 2015, the Legislature passed SB 350 (De León, Chapter 547, Statutes of 2015). In addition to significantly increasing the state's commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency, the statute requires the IOUs (as well as the publicly owned utilities) to develop and regularly update IRPs. The plans, which the CPUC must review and approve, are to detail how each IOU is to meet the state's clean energy and environmental objectives. The CPUC, in approving an IOU's proposed procurement, is to ensure the proposal is consistent with the IOU's IRP. If the IRP process works as intended, then it is AB 2454 (Williams) PageF of? unclear there is a need for this bill. The IRP process is in its early stages of development. It is as yet unknown how effectively the process will function. Prior/Related Legislation SB 350 (De León, Chapter 547, Statutes of 2015) created, among other things, the obligation that IOUs develop and regularly update IRPs, which the CPUC must review and approve, and are to detail how each IOU is to meet the state's clean energy and environmental objectives. AB 1937 (Gomez, 2016) requires an electric IOU bids for new gas-fired generation resources to consider, and give preference to, bids for resources that are not gas-fired generation resources located in communities that suffer from cumulative pollution burdens. The bill was passed by this committee by a vote of 7-3 and is pending consideration by the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT: Clean Power Campaign (Source) Advanced Energy Management Alliance EnerNOC Environmental Defense Fund Silicon Valley Leadership Group TechNet OPPOSITION: None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author: The LTPP proceeding develops assumptions and forecasts of resource availability and determines if the existing planned mix of resources is sufficient to meet future needs. An IOU's proposed procurement plan must include certain elements, including a requirement that it will AB 2454 (Williams) PageG of? first meet its unmet needs through all available energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. Demand response is defined as changes in electricity use by customers from their normal consumption pattern in response to fluctuations in the price of electricity, financial incentives to reduce consumption, changes in wholesale market prices, or changes in grid conditions. In other words, demand response reduces energy demand when power is needed most, rather than increasing supply from carbon-emitting fuels. As of 2014, the CPUC bifurcated demand response programs take two forms: 1) Load modifying resources (LMR) modify load through customers' behavioral change; for example, time-of-use rates, and are administered by the IOUs or third-party providers. 2) Supply-side resources reduce or increase demand at a particular time and location and by a specific amount and can be scheduled and dispatched into the CAISO energy markets when and where needed, for example; the Base Interruptible Program. In December 2014, the CPUC authorized the undertaking of a demand response Potential Study to determine the amount of demand response that is potentially available in the State. The Potential Study is currently being completed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and will answer some of the most fundamental questions about the potential of demand response and will consider all forms of demand response that may be available to IOUs or the CAISO, as well as the potential for integrating demand response with other distributed energy resources, such as electric vehicles and solar, to meet a broader range of system needs. The Potential Study will be a transparent framework that associates numbers in gigawatts with every demand response end use, how many hours of avoided generation are available, and a forecast of costs. These models will AB 2454 (Williams) PageH of? extend to 2025 to provide a comprehensive overview of the role that demand response can provide to meet California's GHG reduction goals. However, before the study's completion, the CPUC adopted a decision (R13-09-011) in November 2015 that significantly devalued certain LMR programs and prohibited IOUs from attributing any capacity value to these programs. This preemptive decision significantly impacts the ability for IOUs to incorporate demand response into the LTTP process. AB 2454 highlights the significant challenge that demand reduction has faced as an under-utilized resource in danger of being prematurely undervalued by the CPUC. This bill solidifies the role demand reduction has in the LTPP proceeding by clarifying that the CPUC shall take the results of the study into account when IOUs include demand reduction in their required portfolio of short and long term strategies. -- END --