Amended in Assembly April 22, 2014

Amended in Assembly March 28, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1935


Introduced by Assembly Member Campos

February 19, 2014


An act to amend Section 321.7 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1935, as amended, Campos. Electricity: clean distributed energy resources.

Existing law requires the Public Utilitiesbegin delete Commission (PUC),end deletebegin insert Commission,end insert on a biennial basis and in consultation with the Independent System Operator and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to study and submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor on the impacts of distributed energy generation on the state’s distribution and transmission grid.

This bill would insteadbegin delete requiresend deletebegin insert requireend insert thebegin delete PUC,end deletebegin insert Public Utilities Commission,end insert on a biennial basis, to study and submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor on the impacts ofbegin insert distributed generation, includingend insert clean distributed energy resources, as defined, on the state’s distribution and transmission grid.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 321.7 of the Public Utilities Code is
2amended to read:

3

321.7.  

(a) On or before January 1st of every other year, the
4commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator
5and the Energy Commission, shall study, and submit a report to
6the Legislature and the Governor, on the impacts ofbegin delete cleanend delete
7 distributedbegin insert generation, including clean distributedend insert energy resources
8on the state’s distribution and transmission grid.

9(b) For the purposes of this section, “clean distributed energy
10resource” means any of the following:

11(1) A clean energy generating technology that meets all of the
12following criteria:

13(A) Produces electricity, or electricity and useful heat.

14(B) Has a greenhouse gas emissions factor, including, when
15applicable, credit for waste heat recovery and savings on
16transmission and distribution losses, that is less than or equal to begin delete17 the emission factor for electricity developed by the State Air
18Resources Board in the scoping plan adopted pursuant to Section
1938561 of the Health and Safety Code.end delete
begin insert an emissions factor
20determined by the State Air Resources Board that represents the
21emissions of greenhouse gases that are displaced by the electricity
22generated by the distributed energy resource.end insert

23(C) Has an oxide of nitrogenbegin insert (NOx)end insert emissions rate, including,
24when applicable, credit for waste heat recovery, that is less than
25or equal tobegin delete the standard set forth in Section 94203 of Title 17 of
26the California Code of Regulations.end delete
begin insert 0.07 pounds per megawatthour,
27or a lower NOx emissions rate that the State Air Resources Board
28determines reflects the best performance achieved in practice by
29existing electrical generation technologies pursuant to Section
3041514.9 of the Health and Safety Code.end insert

31(D) Has a nameplate rated generation capacity of 20 or less
32megawatts.

33(2) An eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in Section
34399.12, thatbegin delete uses organic waste or biogas as its feedstock andend delete has
35a nameplate generation capacity of 20 or less megawatts.

36(3) A demandside reduction resource.

37(4) An energy storage technology that stores energy from a
38technology or resource specified in paragraph (1), (2), or (3).

P3    1(c) The study shall evaluate all of the following:

2(1) Reliability and transmission issues related to connecting
3clean distributed energy resources to the local distribution networks
4and regional grid.

5(2) Issues related to grid reliability and operation, including
6interconnection, and the position of federal and state regulators
7toward distributed energy accessibility.

8(3) The effect on overall grid operation of various clean
9distributed energy resources.

10(4) Barriers affecting the connection of distributed energy to
11the state’s grid.

12(5) Emerging technologies related to clean distributed energy
13resources interconnection.

14(6) Interconnection issues that may arise for the Independent
15System Operator and local distribution companies.

16(7) The effect on peak demand for electricity.

17(d) In addition, the commission shall specifically assess the
18impacts of the California Solar Initiative program, specified in
19Section 2851 and Section 25783 of the Public Resources Code,
20the self-generation incentive program authorized by Section 379.6,
21and the net energy metering pilot program authorized by Section
222827.9.

23(e) The report submitted to the Legislature pursuant to
24subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795
25of the Government Code.



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