BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 23
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 20, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Steven Bradford, Chair
SB 23 (Simitian) - As Amended: April 26, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 31-4
SUBJECT : Energy: renewable energy resources.
SUMMARY : Makes a number of technical changes to the recently
signed SB 2 in the first extraordinary session, which increased
California's renewable portfolio standard from 20% by 2010 to
33% by 2020. Specifically, this bill :
1)Extends the deadline for the California Energy Commission
(CEC) to study and report to the Legislature on run-of-river
hydroelectric generating facilities in British Columbia for
one year to June 30, 2012.
2)Extends the deadline for the California Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) to determine resource adequacy standards for
wind and solar energy resources for one year to no later than
July 1, 2012.
3)Extends the deadline for the CEC to adopt regulations for
enforcement of the RPS requirements of the publicly owned
utilities (POUs) for one year to July 1, 2012.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates the California RPS program and the Renewable Energy
Resources Program to increase the amount of electricity
generated per year from eligible renewable energy resources.
2)Effective 90 days after the adjournment of the first
extraordinary session, increases California's renewable
portfolio standard from 20% by 2010 to 33% by 2020.
3)Effective 90 days after the adjournment of the first
extraordinary session, requires the CEC to study and provide a
report to the Legislature that analyzes run-of-river
hydroelectric generating facilities by June 30, 2011.
4)Effective 90 days after the adjournment of the first
SB 23
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extraordinary session, requires the CEC to adopt regulations,
on or before July 1, 2011, for enforcement of the RPS
requirements of POUs.
5)Effective upon the adjournment of the first extraordinary
session, requires the PUC to determine resource adequacy
standards for wind and solar energy resources no later than
July 1, 2011.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : The Governor signed SB x1 2 (Simitian) on April 12,
2011. The bill will take effect 90 days after the adjournment
of the first extraordinary session which has not yet occurred.
Thus, various state agencies providing reports or promulgating
regulations in 2011. The delay in enactment of SB x1 2 and the
delay in adjournment of the special session require that the
deadlines be extended by one year for these agencies to complete
their work.
The author seeks to extend deadlines for specified rules and
reports to provide sufficient time for the CEC and CPUC.
During the Legislature's deliberation on SB x1 2, a number of
other issues and concerns were raised, including but not limited
to, the following (not in priority order):
1.Energy Service Providers have expressed concern that contracts
signed between June 2010 and January 13, 2011, which were
valid under the prior RPS statute have been invalidated
because they were signed prior to the date when SB x1 2
becomes take effect. The ESPs have requested a technical fix
to ensure contracts signed between June 2010 and January 13,
2011 are considered valid RPS contracts.
2.An investor owned utility had requested an amendment to allow
excess generation to be carried forward in one compliance
period if the contract has a term greater than 5 years (as
enacted, SB 1x2 requires a term of 10 years or greater).
3.Another request was to merge compliance buckets 2 and 3.
4.The method prescribed which requires the PUC to set
procurement goals within each of three compliance periods was
argued to be onerous. As the bill specifies that utilities
must show progress during the compliance periods, the need for
the PUC to set interim goals is not necessary.
5.Municipal utilities have requested that the mandate in the
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first compliance period (an average of 20% renewables between
2011 and 2013) is too onerous. They have requested an
extension to a prescriptive 20% by 2014 in lieu of the first
compliance period.
6.Municipal utilities have also requested allowance to
carry-forward their generation from prior years to meet the
goals of future years (banking). They would like to include
banking of generation prior to January 1, 2011.
7.Rate calculation for feed-in-tariff (FIT). In 2009, the
Legislature adopted SB 32 (Negrete-McLeod) which required the
CPUC to increase the 1.5 megawatt FIT to three megawatts and
also modified the contract payment calculation which was the
Market Price Referent (MPR). SB 1x2 deleted the code sections
which specify how the MPR is calculated. The author has
attempted to incorporate a new definition of the MPR into this
bill but in doing so has inadvertently changed the basis of
the calculation of the contract payment.
PG&E has submitted recommendations to simplify procurement and
ensure that RPS purchases are counted toward compliance.
At this time, SB 23 does not address these concerns.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) (if amended)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : DaVina Flemings / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083