BILL NUMBER: SB 372	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Blakeslee

                        FEBRUARY 15, 2011

   An act to add Section 25235 to the Public Resources Code, relating
to electricity.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 372, as introduced, Blakeslee. Distributed generation.
   The existing Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission). Existing
law requires the Energy Commission to undertake a continuing
assessment of trends in the consumption of electricity and other
forms of energy and to analyze the social, economic, and
environmental consequences of those trends and to collect from
electric utilities, gas utilities, and fuel producers and wholesalers
and other sources, forecasts of future supplies and consumption of
all forms of energy.
   This bill would require each large electrical corporation, as
defined, and large local publicly owned electric utility, as defined,
to identify and designate zones within their service territory that
are optimal for deployment of distributed generation, and to provide
this information to the Energy Commission by December 31, 2012. The
bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the
Public Utilities Commission (PUC), to develop guidelines for those
electrical utilities to utilize in identifying and designating those
zones. The bill would require the Energy Commission to review each
electrical utility's designation of zones that are optimal for
deployment of distributed generation and approve or disapprove the
designation of zones made by each electrical utility. The bill would
require that, upon approval by the Energy Commission, that each
electrical utility make this information available on its Internet
Web site.
   Under existing law, the PUC has regulatory authority over public
utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing
law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to
administer, until January 1, 2016, a self-generation incentive
program for distributed generation resources and to separately
administer solar technologies pursuant to the California Solar
Initiative.
   This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature that in
supervising and administering the California Solar Initiative and
self-generation program, that the PUC give priority to those
distributed generation projects that are proposed to be located
within zones designated by an electrical corporation to be optimal
for deployment of distributed generation. The bill would additionally
state the intent of the Legislature that the PUC review current
rules, pertaining to interconnection, to facilitate interconnections
of distributed generation facilities within those zones.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 25235 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
   25235.  (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
   (1) "Large electrical corporation" means an electrical corporation
as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, that has
100,000 or more service connections.
   (2) "Large local publicly owned electric utility" means a local
publicly owned electric utility as defined in Section 224.3 of the
Public Utilities Code, that has 100,000 or more service connections.
   (b) In order to advance the state's policy to promote efficient
and effective investments in renewable, ultra-clean, and low emission
distributed generation, and in order to ascertain the potential
benefits and impacts of future deployments of distributed generation,
each large electrical corporation and large local publicly owned
electric utility shall identify and designate zones within their
service territory that are optimal for deployment of distributed
generation so as to not conflict with federal electrical reliability
standards, while achieving at least one of the following objectives:
   (1) Relieve congestion on the local electrical distribution grid.
   (2) Provide more economical generational resources than what is
currently available.
   (c) (1) The commission, in consultation with the Public Utilities
Commission, shall develop guidelines for large electrical
corporations and large publicly owned electric utilities to utilize
in identifying and designating zones within their service territory
that are optimal for deployment of distributed generation.
   (2) On or before December 31, 2012, each large electrical
corporation and large publicly owned electric utility shall provide
the commission with information identifying those zones within their
service territory that it determines are optimal for deployment of
distributed generation. The commission shall review each utility's
designation of zones that are optimal for deployment of distributed
generation and approve or disapprove the designation of zones made by
each utility. If disapproved, the commission shall indicate in what
manner the designation should be revised and order the utility to
promptly submit a designation that corrects the deficiency.
   (3) Upon approval by the commission, each large electrical
corporation and large publicly owned electric utility shall make this
information available on its Internet Web site so that it appears
when a term search is performed on that Internet Web site using the
term "distributed generation."
   (4) Each large electrical corporation and large publicly owned
electric utility shall periodically update its designation of zones
that are optimal for deployment of distributed generation, as
circumstances change, and provide this information to the commission
and make that information available on the utility's Internet Web
site.
   (d) An electrical corporation that is not a large electrical
corporation, or a local publicly owned electric utility that is not a
large local publicly owned electric utility, may identify and
designate zones within their service territory that are optimal for
deployment of distributed generation.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that the Public
Utilities Commission should do both of the following:
   (a) In supervising and administering the California Solar
Initiative, pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 2851) of
Chapter 9 of Part 2 of Division 1 of, and the self-generation program
pursuant to Section 379.6 of, the Public Utilities Code, give
priority to those distributed generation projects that are proposed
to be located within zones designated by an electrical corporation to
be optimal for deployment of distributed generation pursuant to
Section 25235 of the Public Resources Code.
   (b) Review current rules, pertaining to interconnection, to
facilitate interconnections of distributed generation facilities
within those zones.