Bill Text: CA SB760 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-01-09 - From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on U. & C. [SB760 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SB760-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 760 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 9, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 19, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 7, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 20, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 29, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 1, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wright
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez)
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Section 399.13 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 760, as amended, Wright. California Renewables Portfolio
Standard Program.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations,
as defined, while local publicly owned electric utilities, as
defined, are under the direction of their governing board. The Public
Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities on the
Public Utilities Commission with respect to the purchase of
electricity and requires the commission to review and adopt a
procurement plan and a renewable energy procurement plan for each
electrical corporation pursuant to the California Renewables
Portfolio Standard Program. The California Renewables Portfolio
Standard Program requires a retail seller, as defined, and local
publicly owned electric utilities to purchase specified minimum
quantities of electricity products from eligible renewable energy
resources, as defined, for specified compliance periods.
The program, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost
and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project
viability principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a
balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable
energy resources, as specified, referred to as the portfolio content
requirements. The program requires the commission to adopt, by
rulemaking, a process that provides criteria for the rank ordering
and selecting of least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy
resources to comply with the program obligations on a total cost
basis, taking into account specified matter.
This bill would additionally require that the process providing
criteria for the rank ordering and selecting of least-cost and
best-fit eligible renewable energy resources to comply with the
program obligations include procurement of specific types of eligible
renewable energy resources necessary to maintain the reliability of
the electrical grid to meet electrical demand on a 24-hour basis and
consider the attributes of utilizing geothermal and other renewable
energy resources , as specified that provide
environmental and electrical system benefits and contribute to grid
reliability . The bill would require each electrical
corporation, in soliciting and procuring eligible renewable energy
resources, to consider the best-fit attributes of resource types that
ensure a balanced resource mix to maintain the reliability of the
electrical grid.
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 399.13 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
399.13. (a) (1) The commission shall direct each electrical
corporation to annually prepare a renewable energy procurement plan
that includes the matter in paragraph (5),
(5) to satisfy its obligations under the renewables portfolio
standard. To the extent feasible, this procurement plan shall be
proposed, reviewed, and adopted by the commission as part of, and
pursuant to, a general procurement plan process. The commission shall
require each electrical corporation to review and update its
renewable energy procurement plan as it determines to be necessary.
(2) Every electrical corporation that owns electrical transmission
facilities shall annually prepare, as part of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission Order 890 process, and submit to the
commission, commission a report identifying any
electrical transmission facility, upgrade, or enhancement that is
reasonably necessary to achieve the renewables portfolio standard
procurement requirements of this article. Each report shall look
forward at least five years and, to ensure that adequate investments
are made in a timely manner, shall include a preliminary schedule
when an application for a certificate of public convenience and
necessity will be made, pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with
Section 1001), for any electrical transmission facility identified as
being reasonably necessary to achieve the renewable energy resources
procurement requirements of this article. Each electrical
corporation that owns electrical transmission facilities shall ensure
that project-specific interconnection studies are completed in a
timely manner.
(3) The commission shall direct each retail seller to prepare and
submit an annual compliance report that includes all of the
following:
(A) The current status and progress made during the prior year
toward procurement of eligible renewable energy resources as a
percentage of retail sales, including, if applicable, the status of
any necessary siting and permitting approvals from federal, state,
and local agencies for those eligible renewable energy resources
procured by the retail seller, and the current status of compliance
with the portfolio content requirements of subdivision (c) of Section
399.16, including procurement of eligible renewable energy resources
located outside the state and within the WECC and unbundled
renewable energy credits.
(B) If the retail seller is an electrical corporation, the current
status and progress made during the prior year toward construction
of, and upgrades to, transmission and distribution facilities and
other electrical system components it owns to interconnect eligible
renewable energy resources and to supply the electricity generated by
those resources to load, including the status of planning, siting,
and permitting transmission facilities by federal, state, and local
agencies.
(C) Recommendations to remove impediments to making progress
toward achieving the renewable energy resources procurement
requirements established pursuant to this article.
(4) The commission shall adopt, by rulemaking, all of the
following:
(A) A process that provides criteria for the rank ordering and
selecting of least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy
resources to comply with the California Renewables Portfolio Standard
Program obligations on a total cost and best-fit basis. This process
shall take into account all of the following:
(i) Estimates of indirect costs associated with needed
transmission investments and ongoing electrical corporation expenses
resulting from integrating and operating eligible renewable energy
resources.
(ii) The cost impact of procuring the eligible renewable energy
resources on the electrical corporation's electricity portfolio.
(iii) The viability of the project to construct and reliably
operate the eligible renewable energy resource, including the
developer's experience, the feasibility of the technology used to
generate electricity, and the risk that the facility will not be
built, or that construction will be delayed, with the result that
electricity will not be supplied as required by the contract.
(iv) Workforce recruitment, training, and retention efforts,
including the employment growth associated with the construction and
operation of eligible renewable energy resources and goals for
recruitment and training of women, minorities, and disabled veterans.
(v) Procurement of specific types of eligible renewable energy
resources necessary to maintain the reliability of the electrical
grid to meet electrical demand on a 24-hour basis, including
identifying the eligible renewable energy resources by type and
operating characteristics.
(vi) Consideration of the attributes of utilizing geothermal and
other renewable energy resources, including their system
inertia, small footprint in terms of surface land requirements,
habitat and other environmental impacts, their ability to provide
local reliability and baseload generation. resources
that provide environmental and electrical system benefits
and contribute to grid reliability.
(B) Rules permitting retail sellers to accumulate, beginning
January 1, 2011, excess procurement in one compliance period to be
applied to any subsequent compliance period. The rules shall apply
equally to all retail sellers. In determining the quantity of excess
procurement for the applicable compliance period, the commission
shall deduct from actual procurement quantities, the total amount of
procurement associated with contracts of less than 10 years in
duration. In no event shall electricity products meeting the
portfolio content of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section
399.16 be counted as excess procurement.
(C) Standard terms and conditions to be used by all electrical
corporations in contracting for eligible renewable energy resources,
including performance requirements for renewable generators. A
contract for the purchase of electricity generated by an eligible
renewable energy resource, at a minimum, shall include the renewable
energy credits associated with all electricity generation specified
under the contract. The standard terms and conditions shall include
the requirement that, no later than six months after the commission's
approval of an electricity purchase agreement entered into pursuant
to this article, the following information about the agreement shall
be disclosed by the commission: party names, resource type, project
location, and project capacity.
(D) An appropriate minimum margin of procurement above the minimum
procurement level necessary to comply with the renewables portfolio
standard to mitigate the risk that renewable projects planned or
under contract are delayed or canceled. This paragraph does not
preclude an electrical corporation from voluntarily proposing a
margin of procurement above the appropriate minimum margin
established by the commission.
(5) Consistent with the goal of increasing California's reliance
on eligible renewable energy resources, the renewable energy
procurement plan submitted by an electrical corporation shall include
all of the following:
(A) An assessment of annual or multiyear portfolio supplies and
demand to determine the optimal mix of eligible renewable energy
resources with deliverability characteristics that may include
peaking, dispatchable, baseload, firm, and as-available capacity.
(B) Potential compliance delays related to the conditions
described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 399.15.
(C) A bid solicitation setting forth the need for eligible
renewable energy resources of each deliverability characteristic,
required online dates, and locational preferences, if any.
(D) A status update on the development schedule of all eligible
renewable energy resources currently under contract.
(E) Consideration of mechanisms for price adjustments associated
with the costs of key components for eligible renewable energy
resource projects with online dates more than 24 months after the
date of contract execution.
(F) An assessment of the risk that an eligible renewable energy
resource will not be built, or that construction will be delayed,
with the result that electricity will not be delivered as required by
the contract.
(6) In soliciting and procuring eligible renewable energy
resources, each electrical corporation shall offer contracts of no
less than 10 years duration, unless the commission approves of a
contract of shorter duration.
(7) In soliciting and procuring eligible renewable energy
resources for California-based projects, each electrical corporation
shall give preference to renewable energy projects that provide
environmental and economic benefits to communities afflicted with
poverty or high unemployment, or that suffer from high
emission emissions levels of toxic air
contaminants, criteria air pollutants, and greenhouse gases.
(8) In soliciting and procuring eligible renewable energy
resources, each electrical corporation shall consider the best-fit
attributes of resource types that ensure a balanced resource mix to
maintain the reliability of the electrical grid.
(b) A retail seller may enter into a combination of long- and
short-term contracts for electricity and associated renewable energy
credits. The commission may authorize a retail seller to enter into a
contract of less than 10 years' duration with an eligible renewable
energy resource, if the commission has established, for each retail
seller, minimum quantities of eligible renewable energy resources to
be procured through contracts of at least 10 years' duration.
(c) The commission shall review and accept, modify, or reject each
electrical corporation's renewable energy resource procurement plan
prior to the commencement of renewable energy procurement pursuant to
this article by an electrical corporation.
(d) Unless previously preapproved by the commission, an electrical
corporation shall submit a contract for the generation of an
eligible renewable energy resource to the commission for review and
approval consistent with an approved renewable energy resource
procurement plan. If the commission determines that the bid prices
are elevated due to a lack of effective competition among the
bidders, the commission shall direct the electrical corporation to
renegotiate the contracts or conduct a new solicitation.
(e) If an electrical corporation fails to comply with a commission
order adopting a renewable energy resource procurement plan, the
commission shall exercise its authority pursuant to Section 2113 to
require compliance. The commission shall enforce comparable penalties
on any retail seller that is not an electrical corporation that
fails to meet the procurement targets established pursuant to Section
399.15.
(f) (1) The commission may authorize a procurement entity to enter
into contracts on behalf of customers of a retail seller for
electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources to
satisfy the retail seller's renewables portfolio standard procurement
requirements. The commission shall not require any person or
corporation to act as a procurement entity or require any party to
purchase eligible renewable energy resources from a procurement
entity.
(2) Subject to review and approval by the commission, the
procurement entity shall be permitted to recover reasonable
administrative and procurement costs through the retail rates of
end-use customers that are served by the procurement entity and are
directly benefiting from the procurement of eligible renewable energy
resources.
(g) Procurement and administrative costs associated with contracts
entered into by an electrical corporation for eligible renewable
energy resources pursuant to this article and approved by the
commission are reasonable and prudent and shall be recoverable in
rates.
(h) Construction, alteration, demolition, installation, and repair
work on an eligible renewable energy resource that receives
production incentives pursuant to former
Section 25742 of the Public Resources Code, including work performed
to qualify, receive, or maintain production incentives, are "public
works" for the purposes of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1720)
of Part 7 of Division 2 of the Labor Code.
