Bill Text: CA AB914 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Transmission planning: energy storage and demand response.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2018-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB914 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB914-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 20, 2017 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 914 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Mullin |
February 16, 2017 |
An act to add Section 327.5 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to transmission.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 914, as amended, Mullin.
Transmission planning: energy storage and demand response.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with jurisdiction over the delivery of electrical services. Existing law provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator (ISO) as a nonprofit public benefit corporation and requires the ISO to make certain filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and to seek authority from FERC as needed to give the ISO the ability to secure generating and transmission resources necessary to guarantee achievement of planning and operating reserve criteria no less stringent than those established by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and the North American Electric Reliability Council.
This bill would require the commission, in its
oversight of large electrical corporations and its
participation in the ISO’s transmission planning process, to promote the consideration of the use of energy storage systems and demand
response nonwire alternatives, as defined, as means to address the state’s transmission needs before the use of transmission wires. The bill would require the commission to ensure that transmission facility owners take certain actions in the transmission planning process regarding nonwire alternatives. The bill would require the commission to ensure that large electrical corporations include nonwire alternatives for consideration and select a nonwire alternative if it is the most cost effective or provides net benefits when compared with traditional transmission solutions.
The Public Utilities Act makes any public utility that violates the act, or that fails to comply
with any part of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, guilty of a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its 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:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 327.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:327.5.
(a) The commission shall, in its oversight of large electrical corporations and its participation in the Independent System Operator’s transmission planning process, promote the consideration of the use of(b) The commission shall do both of the following:
(1) Ensure that transmission owners do all of the following:
(A) Consider nonwire alternatives that could potentially substitute for new or upgraded transmission investments.
(B) Present the results of their analysis of wire and nonwire alternatives, including the estimated costs and benefits of each alternative, if they propose new or upgraded transmission investments in the transmission planning process.
(C) Provide to the public in the transmission planning
process comprehensive data on the specific technical aspects of reliability that necessitate each investment in new or upgraded transmission, including all of the following information:
(i) All aspects of a project’s size and dimension, including capacity needed, in megawatts, and volt-amperes reactive to be provided by the project.
(ii) The required completion date of the project.
(iii) Operational requirements needed to solve the transmission problem to be addressed, including, but not limited to, time of day and months when constraint exists, existing infrastructure limitations, direction of flow during the anticipated transmission problem, speed of response required, and duration of response.
(iv) The electrical location of the project, as depicted
in an electrical depiction or model of the transmission grid.
(v) The geographic location of the project.
(vi) Additional limitations or constraints that an alternative solution would need to consider.
(2) Ensure that large electrical corporations include nonwire alternatives for consideration in the transmission planning process and select a nonwire alternative if it is the most cost-effective option or provides net benefits when compared with traditional transmission solutions.
(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Large electrical corporation”
means an electrical corporation with more than 100,000 service connections.
(2) “Nonwire alternatives” include, but are not limited to, either of the following:
(A) Network optimization with advanced technologies that enable the transmission owner or operator to optimize the operation of the existing electrical grid with hardware and software technologies, including, but not limited to, power flow control, dynamic line rating, phasor measurement units, and energy storage.
(B) Nontransmission alternatives that reduce the need for new transmission capacity, including, but not limited to, demand response, distribution generation, energy efficiency, electrical and thermal storage, and load management.
(3) “Transmission owner” means a private entity,
including, but not limited to, an electrical corporation, owning transmission assets that are under the operational control of the Independent System Operator.
