Bill Text: TX HB1421 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to the classification, use, and regulation of electric energy storage equipment or facilities.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-20 - Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar [HB1421 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB1421-Introduced.html

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82R5658 ALL-D
By: Anchia H.B. No. 1421

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the classification and use of energy storage equipment
or facilities and the provision of studies and reports regarding
energy storage equipment or those facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 31, Utilities Code, is amended by adding
Section 31.006 to read as follows:
Sec. 31.006. ENERGY STORAGE EQUIPMENT OR FACILITIES.
(a) The commission by rule shall classify energy storage equipment
or facilities in this state as a separate class or separate classes
of equipment or facilities, distinct from generation or
transmission and distribution equipment or facilities. A rule
adopted under this section may not prohibit energy storage
equipment or facilities from being used to provide a service
related to the generation, transmission, or distribution of
electricity in this state.
(b) The commission by rule shall provide a mechanism for a
transmission and distribution utility to provide transmission and
distribution services using energy storage equipment or facilities
owned or operated by the utility or by another person.
SECTION 2. Section 39.904(k), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(k) The commission and the independent organization
certified for ERCOT shall study the need for increased transmission
capacity, [and] generation capacity, and energy storage capacity
throughout this state and report to the legislature the results of
the study and any recommendations for legislation. The report must
be filed with the legislature not later than December 31 of each
even-numbered year and may be filed as a part of the report required
by Subsection (j).
SECTION 3. Sections 39.905(b-3) and (d), Utilities Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(b-3) Not [Beginning not] later than January 1, 2012 [2008],
the commission, in consultation with the State Energy Conservation
Office, [annually for a period of five years] shall compute and
report to ERCOT the projected energy savings and demand impacts for
each entity in the ERCOT region that administers standard offer
programs, market transformation programs, combined heating and
power technology, demand response programs, solar incentive
programs, appliance efficiency standards, energy efficiency
programs in public buildings, energy storage technology, and any
other relevant programs that are reasonably anticipated to reduce
electricity energy or peak demand or that serve as substitutes for
electric supply.
(d) The commission shall establish a procedure for
reviewing and evaluating market-transformation program options
described by this subsection and other options. In evaluating
program options, the commission may consider the ability of a
program option to reduce costs to customers through reduced demand,
energy savings, and relief of congestion. Utilities may choose to
implement any program option approved by the commission after its
evaluation in order to satisfy the goal in Subsection (a),
including:
(1) energy-smart schools;
(2) appliance retirement and recycling;
(3) air conditioning system tune-ups;
(4) the use of trees or other landscaping for energy
efficiency;
(5) customer energy management and demand response
programs;
(6) high performance residential and commercial
buildings that will achieve the levels of energy efficiency
sufficient to qualify those buildings for federal tax incentives;
(7) programs for customers who rent or lease their
residence or commercial space;
(8) programs providing energy monitoring equipment to
customers that enable a customer to better understand the amount,
price, and time of the customer's energy use;
(9) energy audit programs for owners and other
residents of single-family or multifamily residences and for small
commercial customers;
(10) net-zero energy new home programs;
(11) solar thermal or solar electric programs; [and]
(12) programs for using windows and other glazing
systems, glass doors, and skylights in residential and commercial
buildings that reduce solar gain by at least 30 percent from the
level established for the federal Energy Star windows program; and
(13) thermal, chemical, mechanical, and electrical
energy storage technology programs.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.