BILL NUMBER: AB 2630 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 20, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Salas
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Arambula, Atkins, Bigelow,
Bloom, Bonta, Brown, Gray,
Mathis, Medina, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, and Santiago )
( Coauthors: Senators
Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller,
Galgiani, and Pavley )
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to add Section 399.23 to the Public Utilities Code,
relating to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2630, as amended, Salas. San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy and
Jobs Act.
Existing law, law relative to electrical
restructuring, within the Public Utilities Act, establishes the
Independent System Operator to ensure the efficient use and reliable
operation of the electric transmission grid. The Clean
Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 establishes a target of
50% for the amount of electricity generated and sold to retail
customers per year from eligible renewable energy resources, to be
achieved by December 31, 2030. The California
Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the Public
Utilities Commission (PUC) 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, so that the total
kilowatthours sold to their retail end-use customers achieves 25% of
retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33% by December 31, 2020, 40% by
December 31, 2024, 45% by December 31, 2027, and 50% by December 31,
2030. 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 procurement requirements established by the program.
This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission
PUC and the State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to
evaluate, while taking into consideration ratepayer costs and
benefits, potential eligible renewable energy
resource projects in the San Joaquin Valley, as
specified, and, Valley that provide specified benefits
or attributes. The bill would require the PUC and the Energy
Commission, on or before January 31, 2017, using that
evaluation, to recommend to the Independent System Operator an amount
of renewable energy production electricity
to be generated from eligible renewable energy resources in the
San Joaquin Valley that reasonably maximizes, consistent with the
state's overall need for renewable energy,
electricity and the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program,
the amount of renewable energy produced in the San
Joaquin Valley. electricity to be generated from
eligible renewable energy resources that accomplishes specified
objectives. The bill would require the PUC and the Energy Commission,
on or before January 31, 2017, using the results of the evaluation,
to recommend to the Independent System Operator any network
transmission upgrades needed to fulfill the
above-described generation quantity recommendations and would require
that the transmission upgrade recommendations seek to
minimize the need for new transmission by prioritizing the use of
existing transmission corridors consistent with specified principles
developed by the Energy Commission.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the San
Joaquin Valley Clean Energy and Jobs Act.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division
25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code)
established a policy to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990
levels by 2020 and to continue reductions of emissions of greenhouse
gases beyond 2020.
(b) The Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 (Chapter
547 of the Statutes of 2015) established further clean energy
policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and expand
renewable energy generation from eligible renewable
energy resources to at least 50 percent of total retail sales
of electricity in California by December 31, 2030.
(c) The San Joaquin Valley remains mired in chronic double digit
unemployment, unprecedented rates of poverty, a severe ongoing
drought, and poor air quality.
(d) California's energy sector is undergoing significant
advancement and transformation driven by evolving regulation,
expanding renewable energy goals, and increasing greenhouse gas
emissions reduction efforts.
(e) While rich in natural resources and clean energy
opportunities, the San Joaquin Valley has largely been left behind in
California's clean energy revolution. The overwhelming majority of
the state's new transmission assets have been sited in other regions,
particularly southern California, and renewable energy resource
project investment, jobs, and economic and environmental
benefits have followed grid access.
(f) Unlocking the renewable energy potential of the San Joaquin
Valley by providing more equitable investment in a clean energy
economy should be a key priority of California policymakers.
(g) Timely investment and improved transmission access are
critical to the San Joaquin Valley and will allow the region to more
effectively and efficiently develop clean energy
opportunities, opportunities at all solar project
locations, create jobs, and derive cobenefits for disadvantaged
communities.
(h) The Governor's office is nearing completion of
has completed the San Joaquin Valley Solar
Convening to identify identifying high
potential solar energy developments in the San Joaquin Valley that
maximize renewable energy benefits and minimize environmental
biological and habitat impacts.
(i) The report issued by the University of California in May 2016
on the outcome of the convening, entitled "A Path Forward:
Identifying Least-Conflict Solar PV Development in California's San
Joaquin Valley," identified 470,000 acres of least-conflict land,
amounting to roughly 5 percent of the 9.5 million acres in the
stakeholder study area.
(j) In order to identify least-conflict lands, the project team
convened four stakeholder groups early in the process: (1) an
environmental conservation group, (2) an agricultural farmland
conservation group, (3) a solar industry group, and (4) a
transmission group. An agricultural rangeland stakeholder group was
later added to gain a better understanding of regional land value
from this stakeholder perspective.
(k) The project team generated the final result, the composite
least-conflict area, using the information developed with the solar
industry, environmental conservation, and agricultural farmland
conservation stakeholder groups.
(l) Given the proximity to existing transmission corridors, solar
projects in the San Joaquin Valley can be developed in a way that
minimizes the need for new transmission by prioritizing the use of
existing transmission corridors consistent with the principles of
transmission corridor planning developed by the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission in response to
Senate Bill 2431 (Chapter 1457 of the Statutes of 1988), known as the
Garamendi Principles.
(i)
(m) As future clean energy investments are planned and
implemented, state officials must ensure an appropriate share is
targeted to improve environmental quality, expand economic
development, contribute to environmental solutions, and create jobs
in the San Joaquin Valley.
SEC. 3. Section 399.23 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
399.23. (a) The Public Utilities Commission
commission and the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission
shall evaluate, while taking into consideration ratepayer costs and
benefits, potential eligible renewable energy
resource projects in the San Joaquin Valley. Evaluation of
projects that provide the following benefits or attributes
shall be prioritized:
(1) The economically viable and environmentally beneficial reuse
of drainage-impaired agricultural lands.
(2) The retirement of drainage-impaired agricultural land and
facilitation of regional agricultural drainage solutions.
(3) The facilitation of surface water supply redirection from
drainage-impaired agricultural lands to other productive agricultural
land.
(b) Using the results of the evaluation, on or before January 31,
2017, the Public Utilities Commission
commission and the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission shall
recommend to the Independent System Operator an amount of
renewable energy production electricity to be
generated from eligible renewable energy resources in the San
Joaquin Valley that reasonably maximizes,
maximizes the amount of electricity to be generated from eligible
renewable energy resources, consistent with the state's overall
need for renewable energy, the amount of renewable energy
produced in the San Joaquin Valley. electricity and
the requirements of this article, and that accomplishes all o
f the following:
(1) Takes into account the 470,000 acres identified in the
Governor's May 2016 Solar Convening Report, entitled "A Path Forward:
Identifying Least-Conflict Solar PV Development in California's San
Joaquin Valley," along with all other lands in the Central Valley
that have entitlements for solar development.
(2) Provides eligible renewable energy resources within the San
Joaquin Valley with full capacity deliverability status.
(3) Minimizes the need for new transmission by prioritizing the
use of existing transmission corridors consistent with the principles
of transmission corridor planning developed by the Energy Commission
in response to Senate Bill 2431 (Chapter 1457 of the Statutes of
1988), known as the Garamendi Principles.
(c) Using the results of the evaluation, on or before January 31,
2017, the commission and the Energy Commission shall recommend to the
Independent System Operator any network transmission upgrades needed
to fulfill the recommendations made pursuant to subdivision (b).
This recommendation shall seek to minimize the need for new
transmission by prioritizing the use of existing transmission
corridors consistent with the Garamendi Principles of transmission
corridor planning.