BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2649
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2649 (Mullin, et al.)
As Amended May 28, 2014
2/3 vote. Urgency
UTILITIES & COMMERCE 10-2
APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Bradford, Buchanan, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Dahle, Fong, Garcia, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Roger Hern�ndez, Jones, | |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, |
| |Mullin, Quirk, Rendon | |Gomez, Holden, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Patterson, Beth Gaines | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Supports the development of independent generation
facilities on military bases and privatized military housing by
exempting these facilities from interconnection agreements and
the associated interconnection fees and departing load charges
under specified conditions. Specifically, this bill :
1)Revises the definition of "independent generation facility" to
specify that this type of facility be sized to offset part or
all of the military facility's electricity consumption and
shall be equipped to prevent export to the electrical grid.
2)Revises the process for interconnection to specify that
interconnection must expedited and meet with rules specified,
if any, by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for
independent generation facilities.
3)Requires military facilities to be charged based on actual
usage of the electricity delivered by the investor-owned
utility (IOU) transmission or distribution system.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, increased costs to the PUC (Utilities Reimbursement
Account) of up to $350,000 to calculate specific rate design
components.
AB 2649
Page 2
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill is promotes
military self-generation to support the state's achievement of
distributed, renewable generation policy goals and the United
States Military's goals associated with renewable generation
and energy security.
2)Background. The United States Department of Defense is
working to achieve energy efficiency and renewable goals to
meet both presidential and departmental requirements.
Military bases attempting to expand their self-generation face
physical, financial, and administrative challenges associated
with establishing interconnection agreements.
Current utility interconnection agreements allow generation
that is isolated from utility distribution system and sized up
to 50% of the customer's minimum load. Isolated generation
means that the generating facility is prevented from becoming
interconnected with an IOU distribution system by means of a
transfer switch or operating scheme specifically designed and
engineered for such operation. Current statutes obligate
customers to notify the utility of this type of generation.
It is unclear whether military facilities have attempted to
use this option.
While the 50% sizing requirement for isolated systems is
currently in interconnection agreements, for the purpose of
military facilities with generation that are isolated from the
grid, it may be appropriate to allow them to build on-site
generation that does not exceed the electricity they can
consume on site without exporting to the grid as long as the
generation is constructed in a manner that does not allow
generation to flow back to the IOU transmission or
distribution lines.
Analysis Prepared by : Susan Kateley / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083
FN: 0003873
AB 2649
Page 3