BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 512
Author: Gordon (D)
Amended: 7/12/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES & COMMUN. COMM. : 10-0, 06/21/11
AYES: Padilla, Fuller, Berryhill, Corbett, De Le�n,
DeSaulnier, Rubio, Simitian, Strickland, Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 05/12/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Local government renewable energy
self-generation program
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill increases the capacity of a powerplant
from 1 megawatt (MW) to 5 MW that would be eligible for a
local government program that allows a municipality to
generate electricity at one location to offset electricity
usage at another municipal location. This bill does not
apply to an electrical corporation with 60,000 or fewer
customer accounts.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires electric corporations
(investor-owned utilities or IOUs) to allow local
governments and public college and university campuses to
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generate electricity from an eligible renewable facility
at one site and transfer any available excess bill credits
(in dollars) to another account owned by the same local
government, college or university. The program is capped
at 250 MW and divided proportionally between the state's
largest IOUs. The facility size is capped at 1 MW per
account. The program is commonly referred to as the
Renewable Energy Self-Generation Bill Credit Transfer
Program. The renewable energy does not count toward the
state's Renewable Portfolio Standard which requires
electric utilities to obtain 33 percent of generation from
renewable resources by 2020.
This bill:
1.Expands the definition of an eligible renewable
generating facility for the purposes of the program to
include a facility that has a generating capacity of no
more than 5 megawatts.
2.Prohibits an electrical corporation from being required
to compensate a local government for electricity
generated from a facility in excess of the bill credits
applied to the designated benefiting account.
3.Prohibits a local government from being eligible for any
other tariff or program that requires an electrical
corporation to purchase generation from an eligible
renewable generating facility participating in the
program.
4.Exempts an electrical corporation with 60,000 or fewer
customer accounts from the program.
Background
Under existing law there are several programs which
encourage customers to meet their own generation needs.
Each legislative year brings additional proposals to
facilitate different types of distributed generation and/or
different rate structures. There is a common theme with
these programs - each generally involves a customer
installing small scale renewable power on the customer's
side of the meter to offset their load and in some
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instances generate excess power. The distinction between
measures is usually the type of customer (e.g. local
government, agriculture, residential), the type of
renewable generation (e.g. solar, fuel cells, wind), the
size of the generation, and the regulated rate structure
under which the generation is valued.
This program was implemented as a result of AB 2466
(Laird), Chapter 540, Statutes of 2008, and designed to
allow local government entities that could not fit or site
solar photovoltaic systems on their side of the meter to
site them in a nearby location but still receive credit for
the generation. Because the generation is not on the
customer's side of the meter (and therefore not offsetting
the customer's own load) customers are not eligible for
full retail net metering and receive credit at the
generation rate. The California Public Utilities
Commission concluded its implementation of the bill in
early 2010. To date there are no customers participating
in the program.
Comments
According to the author, this bill "satisfies the suggested
change in eligibility proposed by the 2010 Report from the
Assembly's Select Committee on the Green Economy. This
suggested change was made in order to foster growth in
renewable energy development as part of a diverse and
integrated statewide strategy in reaching renewable
portfolio standards. An increasing number of local
government entities are exploring the potential of, or are
currently developing renewable generation projects with
generation capacities in excess of 1 MW. This bill further
incentivizes the development of those renewable energy
projects."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/12/11)
Association of California Water Agencies
California Public Utilities Commission
California State Association of Counties
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City of Fresno
City of San Jose
City of Santa Rosa
Inland Empire Utilities Agency
Nanosolar
Regional Council of Rural Counties
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
OPPOSITION : (Verified 7/12/11)
San Diego Gas and Electric
Southern California Edison
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Chesbro, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng,
Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines,
Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall,
Harkey, Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller,
Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan,
Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Cedillo, Conway, Garrick, Gorell,
Roger Hern�ndez, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mitchell, Portantino,
Torres
RM:nl 7/13/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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