Bill Text: CA AB1371 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: offshore wind generation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2020-02-03 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB1371 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB1371-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 1371 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Cunningham |
February 22, 2019 |
An act to add Section 399.23 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1371, as introduced, Cunningham.
California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: offshore wind generation.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, defined as including electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33% by December 31, 2goals that eligible renewable energy resources supply 60% of retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2030, and that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100% of retail sales of electricity to
California end-use customers and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045. The bill would request the Independent System Operator to utilize its transmission planning process to plan for new transmission additions to the transmission grid under its operational control that will accommodate offshore wind generation and to utilize or repurpose existing transmission infrastructure that was built to serve fossil fuel or nuclear generation that has been, or will be, retired.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
The California
Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code) requires retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieves 25 percent of retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33 percent by December 31, 2020, 44 percent by December 31, 2024, 52 percent by December 31, 2027, and 60 percent by December 31, 2030.
(b) The
100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018 (Chapter 312 of the Statutes of 2018) established as a policy of this state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100 percent of retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100 percent of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045.
(c) In order for the state to achieve these aggressive environmental and climate goals, it is imperative that the available sources of renewable energy used for generation of electricity be expanded and that the investments in transmission infrastructure necessary to access these sources be built out to where those renewable generation sources exist.
(d) According to a 2016 study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, there is more than 158,000 gigawatts of generating capacity from offshore wind in California, one gigawatt
being able to power 350,000 homes.
(e) Development of offshore wind generation is a vital public policy need if the state is going to achieve its aggressive environmental and climate goals.
(f) California is working with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management within the United States Department of the Interior to identity wind zones in federal waters off the coast of central California near Morro Bay and Diablo Canyon.
(g) In order to reach the critical mass needed to obtain the investments in transmission necessary to access available offshore wind generation, the state needs to commit to future procurement targets.
(h) The existing open access, nondiscriminatory network transmission planning and bidding processes of the Independent System Operator
should be utilized for the extension of the transmission network to new offshore wind generation sites and, to the extent practical and economically feasible, to take advantage of existing transmission infrastructure that will become available as a result of nuclear or fossil fuel generation retirement.
(i) Offshore wind generation and the necessary transmission grid interconnections have long lead times and it is essential that the state, through the Public Utilities Commission and the Independent System Operator, start planning for those resources now.
SEC. 2.
Section 399.23 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:399.23.
(a) The commission shall determine appropriate targets for the procurement of offshore wind generation on behalf of retail end-use customers of retail sellers in California in order to meet both of the following goals:(1) That eligible renewable energy resources supply 60 percent of retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2030.
(2) That eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100 percent of retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100 percent of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045.
(b) The
Independent System Operator is requested to utilize its transmission planning process to plan for new transmission additions to the transmission grid under its operational control that will accommodate offshore wind generation and to utilize or repurpose existing transmission infrastructure that was built to serve fossil fuel or nuclear generation that has been, or will be, retired.
