BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
DEBRA BOWEN, CHAIRWOMAN
SB 1143 - Bowen Hearing
Date: April 24, 2001 S
As Introduced: February 23, 2001 FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
This bill requires the California Energy Commission (CEC)
to annually assess the need for new energy resources.
The bill also requires the CEC to prepare a plan to
increase renewable generation to 15 percent of the state's
total generation by 2006, and 20 percent by 2010.
BACKGROUND
The Warren-Alquist Act established integrated planning and
siting processes intended to guard against under or
overbuilding of power plants. The Act required the CEC to
develop long-term forecasts of state energy needs, which
served as the basis for planning and certification of
individual power plants. These forecasts were known as the
Integrated Assessment of Need. Since the advent of
electrical restructuring, the planning and siting functions
have been de-coupled.
In recent years, between 11 and 12 percent of the
electricity sold in California has come from renewable
resources, such as biomass, geothermal, small
hydroelectric, solar and wind. Geothermal is the biggest
contributor to existing renewable resources, providing
about five percent of the state's electricity.
COMMENTS
1)Link to SB 110. SB 110 (Peace), Chapter 581, Statutes of
1999, eliminated the requirement that proposed power
plants comply with the CEC's integrated assessment of
need, and repealed the assessment of need itself.
This bill would reestablish the assessment of need as it
relates to electrical generation resources, but it would
not make CEC siting decisions contingent of conformance
with the assessment of need.
2)Link to the Public Power Authority. SB 6X (Burton),
approved by this committee and currently pending on the
Assembly Floor, would establish a public power authority
to, among other things, finance new power plants.
While an evaluation of overall energy needs may not be
needed as a benchmark upon which to judge proposed power
plants which rely on private capital, it may be useful to
ensure a wise investment of public dollars in projects
financed by a public power authority. According to the
author, this is one of the primary arguments in favor of
restoring a pro-active assessment of generation needs.
3)Significant expansions, all natural gas. For many years,
every major power plant proposed in California has been
fueled by natural gas. Some attribute the severity of
the current energy crisis to an over-reliance on natural
gas. If the trend in private development of power plants
continues as expected, the state's reliance on natural
gas will increase in the coming years.
Given this trend, the renewable share of total
generation, currently hovering around 12 percent, may
decrease. This may make it harder to achieve the 15 and
20 percent renewable levels called for in the bill.
However, relative scarcity, and high prices, of natural
gas may make it more important to achieve greater
diversity in generation resources.
4)Existing renewables faltering. Much of the existing, and
potential for future, renewable generation is from
biomass, solar and wind resources. Existing projects
powered by these sources are typically non-utility
Qualifying Facilities (QFs). Many of these QFs have shut
down in recent months due to the failure of the state's
insolvent investor-owned utilities to pay them. The
expanded investment in renewable resources contemplated
by this bill relies on first ensuring that existing
investments are returned to financial health.
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
Author
Support:
Clean Power Campaign
Oppose:
None on file
Lawrence Lingbloom
SB 1143 Analysis
Hearing Date: April 24, 2001