BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 502|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 502
Author: Leno (D)
Amended: 4/8/15
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U. & C. COMMITTEE: 11-0, 4/7/15
AYES: Hueso, Fuller, Cannella, Hertzberg, Hill, Lara, Leyva,
McGuire, Morrell, Pavley, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT: San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District:
purchase and delivery of electricity
SOURCE: San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District
DIGEST: This bill allows the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid
Transit District (BART) to purchase wholesale electricity from a
renewable energy resource that is eligible under California's
Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires any electric utility which owns and operates
transmission and distribution facilities that deliver
electricity to BART, upon request by BART, to deliver
preference power purchased from a federal power marketing
agency or local publicly-owned utility (POU). (Public
Utilities Code §701.8)
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2)Requires the electric utility to bill BART as though all the
electricity purchased were metered by a single meter at one
location. (Public Utilities Code §701.8)
3)Provides that any lease entered into between BART and an
electrical utility, for special facilities to receive power at
transmission level voltages, cannot be terminated without
BART's consent. (Public Utilities Code §701.8)
4)Requires investor-owned utilities (IOUs), electric service
providers (ESPs), and community choice aggregators (CCA) to
increase procurement from eligible renewable energy resources
to 33 percent of total procurement by 2020. (Public Utilities
Code §399.11 et seq.)
5)Requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to
1990 levels by 2020. (Health and Safety Code §38500)
This bill requires any electric utility which owns and operates
transmission and distribution facilities that deliver
electricity to BART, upon request by BART, to deliver
electricity generated by an eligible renewable energy resource
as defined within the state's RPS.
Background
BART is a regional light rail system that includes 104 route
miles of track and 44 stations serving communities in the Bay
Area region, including the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa,
San Francisco, and San Mateo. BART averages nearly 400,000
weekday trips, each trip averaging a distance of 14 miles. The
BART system provides nearly half of all transit passenger miles
travelled in the Bay Area.
BART trains are 100 percent electric. According to the "BART
Green Factsheet," clean hydroelectric power and renewable
resources account for 53 percent of the power BART uses.
Specifically, the BART District procures electricity from a
local POU, the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA), a
federal agency known as the Western Area Power Administration
(WAPA), a 2.5 MW solar facility through an NCPA arrangement, and
net energy metered solar electric generation located at three
BART facilities. BART is the cleanest transit system in the
country as defined by the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger
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mile (based on a 2007 National Transit Database joint analysis
by the Federal Transportation Agency, U.S. Department of Energy
and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).
Until the passage of SB 184 (Kopp, Chapter 681, Statutes of
1995), BART was procuring all its energy from the region's IOU,
PG&E. SB 184 allowed BART to procure electricity directly from
the federal power marketing authority. Under the federal
Reclamation Project Act of 1939, BART qualifies as a preference
entity to purchase and receive hydropower from the Central
Valley Project (CVP). Additionally, SB 1838 (Kopp, Chapter 206,
Statutes of 1998), exempts BART District's preference from
federal power delivery from statutes and California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC) regulations governing direct access
transactions related to electric power. These bills permitted
BART to diversify its sources of energy. However, current rules
also require BART to compensate PG&E for the use of its
transmission and distributed network under tariffs regulated by
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the CPUC.
Although BART maintains the least carbon emitting transit system
in the country, the BART District Board is interested in further
reducing the system's carbon footprint while balancing costs
that could raise fare prices. However, current law limits BART's
ability to procure renewable energy directly as those
procurements would need to be done through a third party
transaction, such as the federal power marketing authority or a
local POU.
Comments
Has This Train Left the Station? Prior legislation provided BART
the unique opportunity to procure energy directly from sources
other than the local regulated utility, while continuing to
compensate the local regulated utility for the transmission and
distribution costs associated with the delivery of service. SB
502 does not impact any of those prior arrangements. Instead, as
currently written, the bill would merely add eligible renewable
resources to the list of energy sources that can be procured by
BART.
Prior/Related Legislation
SB 184 (Kopp, Chapter 681, Statutes of 1995), allowed BART to
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procure electricity directly from the federal power marketing
authority.
SB 1838 (Kopp, Chapter 206, Statutes of 1998), exempted BART
District's preference from federal power delivery from statutes
and CPUC regulations governing direct access transactions
related to electric power.
SB X1-2 (Simitian, Chapter 1, Statutes of 2011), required all
electricity retailers in the state including POUs, IOUs, ESPs,
and CCA to adopt new RPS goals. Specifically: that 20 percent of
electricity retail sales are served by renewable energy
resources by 2013, 25 percent by the end of 2016 and 33 percent
by 2020.
AB 32 (Pavley/Nuñez, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006), California
Global Warming Solutions Act required California to reduce GHG
emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
SB 350 (De León, 2015) proposes to create or expand three
related clean-energy goals, including updating the state's RPS
to 50 percent of total retail sales of electricity from
renewable resources by 2030.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified4/22/15)
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (source)
Clean Power Campaign
Coalition for Clean Air
Environment California
Large-scale Solar Association
Natural Resources Defense Council
Northern California Power Agency
Sierra Club California
Solar Energy Industries Association
Union of Concerned Scientists
Vote Solar
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The BART Board of Directors voted to work
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towards increasing the District's use of renewable energy.
However, they argue that current state law limits the sources
from which BART can procure renewable electricity. The author
argues that SB 502 would provide BART added flexibility to
procure additional renewable resources should it choose to do
so. The author states that the existing arrangements to
compensate the local regulated utility for transmission and
distribution costs would be maintained and that SB 502 allows
BART to contribute to the state's goals and efforts to further
reduce carbon emissions.
Prepared by:Nidia Bautista / E., U., & C. / (916) 651-4107
4/22/15 16:20:08
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