Bill Text: TX SB2015 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the legislature's goals for electric generation capacity in this state.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-04-17 - Referred to State Affairs [SB2015 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB2015-Comm_Sub.html
 
 
  By: King, Kolkhorst, Schwertner  S.B. No. 2015
         (In the Senate - Filed March 9, 2023; March 13, 2023, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Business & Commerce;
  March 31, 2023, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 3; March 31, 2023,
  sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 2015 By:  King
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the legislature's goals for electric generation
  capacity in this state.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 39.9044, Utilities Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 39.9044.  GOAL FOR DISPATCHABLE GENERATION [NATURAL
  GAS]. (a) It is the intent of the legislature that 50 percent of
  the megawatts of generating capacity installed in the ERCOT power
  region [this state] after January 1, 2024 [2000], be sourced from
  dispatchable generation [use natural gas]. [To the extent
  permitted by law, the commission shall establish a program to
  encourage utilities to comply with this section by using natural
  gas produced in this state as the preferential fuel. This section
  does not apply to generating capacity for renewable energy
  technologies.]
         (b)  The commission shall establish a dispatchable
  generation [natural gas energy] credits trading program. Any power
  generation company, municipally owned utility, or electric
  cooperative that does not satisfy the requirements of Subsection
  (a) by directly owning or purchasing rights to dispatchable
  generation capacity [using natural gas technologies] shall
  purchase sufficient dispatchable generation [natural gas energy]
  credits to satisfy the requirements of this section [by holding
  natural gas energy credits in lieu of capacity from natural gas
  energy technologies].
         (c)  The [Not later than January 1, 2000, the] commission
  shall adopt rules necessary to administer and enforce this section
  [and to perform any necessary studies in cooperation with the
  Railroad Commission of Texas]. At a minimum, the rules must
  [shall]:
               (1)  describe how the commission will calculate
  [establish] the [minimum] annual dispatchable [natural gas]
  generation requirement for each power generation company,
  municipally owned utility, and electric cooperative operating in
  the ERCOT power region [this state] in a manner reasonably
  calculated by the commission to produce[, on a statewide basis,]
  compliance with the requirement prescribed by Subsection (a); and
               (2)  specify reasonable performance standards that all
  dispatchable generation [natural gas] capacity additions must meet
  to count against the requirement prescribed by Subsection (a) and
  that:
                     (A)  are designed and implemented [operated] so as
  to maximize reliability [the energy output from the capacity
  additions in accordance with then-current industry standards and
  best industry standards]; and
                     (B)  encourage the development, construction, and
  operation of new natural gas energy projects at those sites in the
  ERCOT power region [this state] that have the greatest economic
  potential for capture and development of this state's
  environmentally beneficial natural gas resources.
         (d)  On or before January 1, 2025, the commission shall
  activate the dispatchable generation credits trading program
  established by this section if the commission determines that
  dispatchable generation may provide less than 55 percent of all new
  generating capacity installed in the ERCOT power region after
  January 1, 2024. Not later than the 180th day after the date of the
  program's activation, the commission by rule shall determine the
  conditions for compliance and penalties for noncompliance for each
  power generation company, municipally owned utility, and electric
  cooperative subject to the program. The commission may adopt rules
  providing for alternative compliance payments [The commission,
  with the assistance of the Railroad Commission of Texas, shall
  adopt rules allowing and encouraging retail electric providers and
  municipally owned utilities and electric cooperatives that have
  adopted customer choice to market electricity generated using
  natural gas produced in this state as environmentally beneficial.
  The rules shall allow a provider, municipally owned utility, or
  cooperative to:
               [(1) emphasize that natural gas produced in this state
  is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel; and
               [(2) label the electricity generated using natural gas
  produced in this state as "green" electricity].
         (e)  In this section, "dispatchable generation" ["natural
  gas technology"] means generating technologies other than
  technologies considered non-dispatchable under Section 39.159(a),
  as added by Chapter 426 (S.B. 3), Acts of the 87th Legislature,
  Regular Session, 2021 [any technology that exclusively relies on
  natural gas as a primary fuel source].
         (f)  The independent organization certified under Section
  39.151 for the ERCOT power region shall establish a tracking system
  to award dispatchable generation credits to new dispatchable
  generation facilities that meet eligibility requirements
  established by the commission. Each megawatt of installed
  dispatchable generation capacity energized after January 1, 2024,
  is eligible for one dispatchable generation credit.
         (g)  Not later than September 15 of each year, the
  independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the
  ERCOT power region shall file with the commission a report on all
  generating facilities energized in the ERCOT power region during
  the prior year that includes a calculation of whether the prior
  year's installed dispatchable generation capacity is in compliance
  with this section.
         (h)  Not later than January 15 of each year, the commission
  shall notify each power generation company, municipally owned
  utility, and electric cooperative of the power generation
  company's, municipally owned utility's, or electric cooperative's
  dispatchable generation credits requirement for the prior year, if
  any.
         (i)  Each power generation company, municipally owned
  utility, or electric cooperative shall retire sufficient
  dispatchable generation credits to meet the power generation
  company's, municipally owned utility's, or electric cooperative's
  dispatchable generation credits requirement not later than an
  annual deadline established by the commission.
         SECTION 2.  Section 40.004, Utilities Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 40.004.  JURISDICTION OF COMMISSION. Except as
  specifically otherwise provided in this chapter, the commission has
  jurisdiction over municipally owned utilities only for the
  following purposes:
               (1)  to regulate wholesale transmission rates and
  service, including terms of access, to the extent provided by
  Subchapter A, Chapter 35;
               (2)  to regulate certification of retail service areas
  to the extent provided by Chapter 37;
               (3)  to regulate rates on appeal under Subchapters D
  and E, Chapter 33, subject to Section 40.051(c);
               (4)  to establish a code of conduct as provided by
  Section 39.157(e) applicable to anticompetitive activities and to
  affiliate activities limited to structurally unbundled affiliates
  of municipally owned utilities, subject to Section 40.054;
               (5)  to establish terms and conditions for open access
  to transmission and distribution facilities for municipally owned
  utilities providing customer choice, as provided by Section 39.203;
               (6)  to administer the renewable energy credits program
  under Section 39.904(b) and the dispatchable generation [natural
  gas energy] credits program under Section 39.9044(b);
               (7)  to require reports of municipally owned utility
  operations only to the extent necessary to:
                     (A)  enable the commission to determine the
  aggregate load and energy requirements of the state and the
  resources available to serve that load; or
                     (B)  enable the commission to determine
  information relating to market power as provided by Section 39.155;
  and
               (8)  to evaluate and monitor the cybersecurity
  preparedness of a municipally owned utility described by Section
  39.1516(a)(3) or (4).
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
 
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