BILL NUMBER: SBX2 52	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 26, 2001

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Chesbro

                        MAY 17, 2001

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


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 52, as amended, 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  
November  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  large  part to energy
consumption related to air-conditioning  and industrial process
cooling  .
   (2) Thermal energy storage technologies reduce electrical demand
during peak air-conditioning periods by shifting electrical usage to
nighttime, off-peak periods.
   (3)  Numerous  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)  Architectural, engineering, heating, ventilation, and
air-conditioning companies are not aware of the benefits of thermal
energy storage systems, and consequently do not provide for their use
in the design of new buildings or industrial process cooling, or the
refurbishment of existing air-conditioning systems.
   (5)  Establishing public policy measures to increase the use
of thermal energy storage technology will lead to a reduction in peak
electricity demand  , a reduction in the need for adding
additional peaking electrical generating capacity in the state, 
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   establishing state policies to
shift  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)  
   25227.  (a)  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,  agricultural applications,  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  
November  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  and process cooling  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  and Title 24  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)  
   (b)  As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
   (1) "Off-peak" means electrical generating capacity between
 the hours of 12 a.m. and 6 p.m.   the hours of
10 p.m. and 6 a.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.