BILL NUMBER: SBX2 52	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Chesbro

                        MAY 17, 2001

   An act to add  SEction   Section  25227
to the Public Resources Code, relating to thermal energy storage.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 52, as introduced, Chesbro.  Thermal energy storage:  off-peak
electricity.
   The existing Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Act declares that it is the policy of the state to
develop all practicable and cost-effective conservation and
improvements in the efficiency of energy use and distribution that
offer equivalent or better system reliability, and which are not
being exploited by any other entity.
   This bill would establish the Thermal Energy Storage Account in
the General Fund.  The bill would require the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission to administer a program that
provides financial incentives to commercial  , industrial,
agricultural, and educational  building owners and designers for
retrofit and new construction applications to use thermal energy
storage, as defined, to encourage energy efficiency and to reduce
peak load. 
   The bill would require the commission to establish a program to
significantly increase the use of thermal energy storage technologies
in specified types of buildings.  The bill would require the
commission, on or before September 1, 2001, to report to the
Legislature regarding thermal energy storage technologies. 
   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.   (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) California is experiencing a shortage of electricity supplies
during peak demand periods due in part to energy consumption related
to air-conditioning.
   (2) Thermal energy storage technologies reduce electrical demand
during peak air-conditioning periods by shifting electrical usage to
nighttime, off-peak periods.
   (3)  California businesses and public institutions have
successfully used thermal energy storage systems in a variety of
applications, including schools and universities, office buildings,
wine making, and agricultural cooling applications.
   (4) Establishing public policy measures to increase the use of
thermal energy storage technology will lead to a reduction in peak
electricity demand and will decrease the likelihood of electricity
shortages in the future.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to increase the use of
thermal energy storage technologies in commercial, educational,
agricultural, and industrial facilities by providing incentives for
shifting air-conditioning loads from peak to off-peak periods.
  SEC. 2.   Section 25227 is added to the Public Resources Code,
to read:
   25227.  (a)  The Thermal Energy Storage Account is hereby
established in the General Fund.  Moneys in the account may be
expended by the commission, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
for the purposes of this section.
   (b) The commission shall administer a program that provides
financial incentives  of up to four hundred dollars ($400) per
kilowatt of demand of energy consumption shifted from peak load
periods to off-peak load periods  to commercial  ,
industrial, agricultural, and educational  building owners and
designers for retrofit and new construction applications to use
thermal energy storage to encourage energy efficiency and to reduce
peak load.
   (c)  The commission shall establish a program to significantly
increase the use of thermal energy storage technologies in
state-owned buildings, public and private schools, new commercial and
industrial buildings, and other commercial facilities where thermal
energy storage technologies can help reduce consumption of
electricity during peak load periods.  The commission shall consider
both retrofit and new construction applications.  On or before
September 1, 2001, the commission shall report to the Legislature a
plan to ensure that thermal energy storage technologies become a
mainstream means of reducing peak electricity demand by shifting
air-conditioning electrical demand to off-peak load periods,
including, but not limited to, consideration of the following:
   (1) Changes in the nonresidential building energy efficiency
standards of Title 20 of the California Code of Regulations to
provide offsets or credits, or both, for energy budgets that
incorporate thermal energy storage.
   (2) Incentives to equip commercial buildings and electric
utilities with the capacity to automatically reduce loads on
air-conditioning equipment and shift these loads to thermal energy
storage equipment during periods of peak electricity demand through
dispatch signals from utilities or power suppliers.
   (d)  As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
   (1) "Off-peak" means electrical generating capacity between
 the hours of _____ and ____.   the hours of 12
a.m. and 6 p.m. 
   (2) "Thermal energy storage" means a form of technology that uses
off-peak energy to produce and store cool energy in the form of ice
or chilled water for use the next day in air-conditioning or process
cooling.