BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2630
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2630 (Salas)
As Amended April 13, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Utilities |15-0 |Gatto, Patterson, | |
| | |Burke, Chávez, Dahle, | |
| | |Eggman, Cristina | |
| | |Garcia, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Hadley, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Obernolte, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Ting, | |
| | |Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Natural |9-0 |Williams, Jones, | |
|Resources | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, | |
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| | |Gomez, Hadley, | |
| | |Harper, McCarty, Mark | |
| | |Stone, Wood | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) to evaluate
potential renewable energy projects in the San Joaquin Valley,
while also taking into consideration ratepayer costs and
benefits. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the evaluation of projects that contain the following
benefits to be prioritized:
a) The economically viable and environmentally beneficial
re-use of drainage impaired agricultural lands;
b) The retirement of drainage-impaired agricultural lands;
c) The facilitation of surface water supply redirection
AB 2630
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from drainage-impaired agricultural lands to other
productive agricultural lands.
1)Requires the CPUC and CEC, by January 31, 2017, to use the
results of the evaluation to recommend to the California
Independent System Operator (CAISO) an amount of renewable
energy production in the San Joaquin Valley that reasonably
maximizes, consistent with the state's overall need for
renewable energy, the amount of renewable energy produced in
the San Joaquin Valley.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Increased one-time costs of $385,000 (CPUC Utilities Fund) to
establish and conduct a proceeding to resolve the differences
between the requirements of this bill and existing regulatory
processes.
2)Unknown, increased costs for the CEC. This bill codifies some
existing activities at the CEC, so, while it is not a
completely new requirement, additional resources would be
required to meet the timelines in the bill.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose: According to the author, "Due to the lack of
reliable water supplies, drainage issues and other challenges
to agriculture in the Central Valley, there is a lot of
potential for renewable development on unproductive farmland
throughout the Central Valley and permanently retired lands
within Westlands Water District."
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This bill requires the CPUC and CEC to evaluate potential
renewable energy projects in the San Joaquin Valley.
2)Background: SB 350 (De León), Chapter 547, Statutes of 2015,
establishes targets to increase sales of renewable electricity
from 33% to at least 50% by 2030. This effort will require
extensive planning throughout the state and the western United
States.
To meet the original Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) goals
of 33%, thousands of megawatts of renewable energy projects
have been approved for construction in the Mojave Desert and
Carrizo Plain. However, the author contends the San Joaquin
Valley has been neglected for their renewable energy
potential. The first San Joaquin Valley area project, known
as the Westlands Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ), has
the potential to contribute clean energy to meet California's
carbon reduction goals.
3)Other Communities with Similar Potential: There are numerous
communities throughout the state with similar potential as the
San Joaquin Valley that should also be prioritized for
prospective energy infrastructure projects. If the main
driver to conduct this evaluation is the unemployment rate,
then we would find that Colusa County tops the list with an
unemployment rate of 21.6%, Imperial Valley with 18.6%, Plumas
County with 13.7%, and so on.
Throughout the state there are counties with unique economic
needs, but of course not all of them have the same potential
to produce renewable energy. Two large communities that stand
out with strong solar potential and concentrations of poverty
are the San Joaquin and Imperial Valley.
4)There are already mechanisms in order to appropriately
determine procurement why an extra study? The state of
California already has regulatory planning pathways to
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identify transmission planning, renewable procurement, and
where renewable energy is most likely to occur. The CAISO,
CPUC, CEC collaborate to develop inputs for the annual
transmission process. The CPUC develops portfolios of
renewable energy for CAISO based on contracted generation and
projected renewable generation.
5)Implementation Concerns: This bill may be inconsistent with
the transition to integrated resource planning required by SB
350 and may result in the duplication of work already
completed. Additionally, the CPUC indicates the January 1,
2017, deadline may not be achievable due to the analysis and
required by the bill. The author may wish to work with the
CPUC to address these issues.
Analysis Prepared by:
Jose Torres / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083 FN:
0003222