BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1302
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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 1302 (Williams)
          As Amended  May 27, 2011
          Majority vote 

           UTILITIES & COMMERCE             9-2                
          APPROPRIATIONS      12-5        
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,  |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield,     |
          |     |Roger Hern�ndez, Huffman, |     |Bradford, Charles         |
          |     |Ma, Nestande, Skinner,    |     |Calderon, Campos, Davis,  |
          |     |Swanson                   |     |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara,  |
          |     |                          |     |Mitchell, Solorio         |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |Nays:|Achadjian, Knight         |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly,         |
          |     |                          |     |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner    |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 

           SUMMARY :  Requires electrical utilities to designate areas 
          within their service areas as optimal for deployment of 
          distributed generation (DG). Specifically,  this bill  :

          1)Requires large publicly owned utilities to develop and publish 
            maps and other information that identify optimal zones for 
            distributed generation.

          2)Requires the Investor Owned Utilities, by December 31, 2012, 
            to develop and publish maps and other information that 
            identify optimal zones for distributed generation and provide 
            those maps to the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) 
            and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).

          3)Requires the PUC to open a proceeding or expand the scope of 
            an existing proceeding to develop rules for large electrical 
            corporation to follow in creating maps and other information 
            that identify optimal zones for distributed generation.

          4)Requires state agencies to give priority for approval of DG 
            projects proposed with a zone designated by the above process.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Minor absorbable costs to the PUC.

           COMMENTS  :   Distributed generation refers to electric generation 








                                                                  AB 1302
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          facilities located close to the point of electricity 
          consumption.  DG can be renewable energy (e.g., solar or wind), 
          fuel cells powered by natural gas or biogas.  These projects 
          usually do not require large amounts of land and most can be 
          co-located on existing developed property (e.g., a parking lot 
          or building roof).  DG systems connect to the electricity grid 
          via the local transmission or distribution system, and can be 
          constructed in a manner that either allows all of the power to 
          be sent to the electricity grid or to first serve on-site 
          electricity needs and send only excess electricity to the grid.  
          The author argues that the state must have an understanding of 
          the optimal areas for DG in California within areas served by 
          investor owned utilities and public utilities.
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Susan Kateley / U. & C. / (916) 
          319-2083 


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