BILL NUMBER: AB 594 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 21, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 15, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 3, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 24, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Leno
FEBRUARY 18, 2003
An act to add Section 2851 2828 to
the Public Utilities Code, relating to solar energy systems,
and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
to private energy producers.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 594, as amended, Leno. Solar energy systems
Private energy producers : Hetch Hetchy Water and Power
solar generation.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission is vested with
regulatory authority over public utilities and is required
to establish requirements for the administration of power purchase
contracts between electrical corporations and private energy
producers . Existing law permits a private energy
producer to generate electricity not generated from conventional
sources, as defined, solely for its own use or the use of its
tenants, or generating electricity to or for any electrical
corporation, state agency, city, county, district, or an association
thereof, but not the public, without becoming a public utility
subject to the general jurisdiction of the commission. Existing law
requires the commission to review the charges paid by electrical
corporations to private energy producers for electricity generated by
other than conventional power sources and to review standby and
transmission charges imposed by electrical corporations upon the
private energy producers. The commission is further required, after
the review, to adjust those charges to encourage the generation of
electricity from other than conventional power sources.
Existing law authorizes the City of Davis to receive a bill credit,
as defined, to a benefiting account, as defined, for electricity
supplied to the electrical grid by a photovoltaic facility located
within and partially owned by the city and requires the commission to
adopt a rate tariff for the benefiting account.
This bill would authorize the City and County of San Francisco to
elect to designate specific photovoltaic generation facilities
meeting specified conditions as Hetch Hetchy Water and Power (HHWP)
solar generation facilities , and upon election and the
filing and acceptance of an advice letter with the commission
establishing rates, Pacific Gas and Electric Company would be
required on a monthly basis, to credit the City and County of San
Francisco for the certain electricity
generated and delivered to the electric grid in accordance with
specified rate criteria. The bill would provide for the termination
of this arrangement upon notice from the city and county or upon the
city and county , as a community choice aggregator, assumes
responsibility for serving any load beyond its municipal load
engaging in retail sales to customers within the
service territory of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, as a result of
becoming a community choice aggregator, as a result of
municipalization, or otherwise .
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act, a
filed tariff, or an order of the commission is a crime.
Because the provisions of the bill would be a part of the
act and would require an order or other action of the
commission to implement those provisions, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
The bill would declare that, due to the special circumstances
applicable only to HHWP solar generation facilities, a general
statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of
Article IV of the California Constitution, and the enactment of a
special statute is therefore necessary.
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.
The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3 majority .
Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local
program: no yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares each of the
following:
(a) Increasing California's use of solar generated electricity can
promote stable electricity prices, protects
protect public health, improves improve
environmental quality, create new employment opportunities,
and reduces reduce reliance on fossil
fuels.
(b) Electricity for municipal facilities of the City and County of
San Francisco is provided by Hetch Hetchy Water and Power through
electric transmission and distribution lines owned by Pacific Gas and
Electric Company. This situation is unique to the City and County of
San Francisco.
(c) The City and County of San Francisco has declared its
intention to become a Community Choice Aggregator, but until
the time that community choice aggregator, but until
the City and County of San Francisco begins to procure
power for nonmunicipal load electricity pursuant to
implementation of community choice aggregation , the City and
County of San Francisco has no available
acceptable mechanism to market the temporarily existing excess
generation of proposed photovoltaic projects to be located at San
Francisco municipal sites and which may on occasion exceed the load
at the site.
(d) San Francisco is among the most vulnerable areas of
California for electricity blackouts because of transmission
constraints that prevent electricity from coming into the city and
county and aging powerplants located in the city and county.
located in a transmission constrained area that
currently requires local generation. Development of solar
electric facilities in San Francisco can improve electric service
reliability and contribute to the retirement of the aging
fossil fuel generating facilities. lessen air
pollution from fossil fuel powerplants located in the city and
county.
(e) Compensation for the electricity produced from Hetch Hetchy
Water and Power solar generation facilities are in the public
interest.
SEC. 2. Section 2851 is added to Chapter 9 of Part 1 of
Division 1 of 2828 is added to the Public
Utilities Code, to read:
2851. (a) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Environmental attributes" associated with the Hetch Hetchy
Water and Power (HHWP) solar generation include,
but are not limited to, the credits, benefits, emissions reductions,
environmental air quality credits, and emissions reduction credits,
offsets, and allowances, however entitled, resulting from the
avoidance of the emission of any gas, chemical, or other substance
attributable to the HHWP Hetch Hetchy Water
and Power photovoltaic electricity generation facility owned by
the City and County of San Francisco.
(2) "HHWP solar generation" means the electricity generated by
HHWP Hetch Hetchy Water and Power
photovoltaic electricity generation facilities owned by the City and
County of San Francisco, designated by the City and County of San
Francisco pursuant to subdivision (b) and not to exceed five
megawatts of peak generation capacity in total.
(3) "Interconnection Agreement" means the 1987 agreement between
Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the City and County of San
Francisco, as filed with and accepted by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC), and as amended from time to time with
FERC approval , which provides for rates for transmission,
distribution and sales of supplemental power
, and sales of supplemental electricity to the City and County
of San Francisco. Nothing in this section shall waive or modify the
rights of parties under the Interconnection Agreement or the
jurisdiction of the FERC over rates set forth in the Interconnection
Agreement.
(4) "Appropriate time-of-use tariff" means the
time-of-use tariff to which TOU tariff" means the
Time-of-Use tariff that would be applicable to the City and
County of San Francisco account at the photovoltaic project site
would be subject if the facility at the site were
a Pacific Gas and Electric Company bundled customer , as
determined by Pacific Gas and Electric Company .
(b) The City and County of San Francisco may elect to designate
specific photovoltaic electricity generation facilities as HHWP solar
generation, if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) No single photovoltaic generation project exceeds one megawatt
of peak generation capacity.
(2) The photovoltaic project utilizes a meter, or multiple meters,
capable of separately measuring electricity flow in both directions.
All meters shall provide "time-of-use" measurement information. If
the existing meter at the site of the photovoltaic project is not
capable of providing time-of-use information or is not capable of
separately measuring total flow of energy in both
directions, the City and County of San Francisco is responsible for
all expenses involved in purchasing and installing a meter or meters
that are both capable of providing time-of-use information and able
to separately measure total electricity flow in both
directions.
(3) The amount of all electricity delivered to the electric grid
by the designated HHWP solar generation is the property of Pacific
Gas and Electric Company.
(4) The City and County of San Francisco does not sell electricity
delivered to the electric grid from the designated HHWP solar
generation to a third party.
(5) Ownership and use of the environmental attributes
associated with the electricity delivered to the electric grid by
HHWP solar generation shall be determined by the commission in
accordance with Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of
Chapter 2.3 of Part 1.
(c) For each site of a photovoltaic project that comprises the
HHWP solar generation, Pacific Gas and Electric Company shall
identify the appropriate time-of-use TOU
tariff for that site. Any electricity exported to the Pacific
Gas and Electric Company grid at that site shall, for each
time-of-use period, result in a monetary credit to be listed
monthly on applied monthly as a credit or offset
against the invoice created pursuant to the Interconnection
Agreement and shall be valued at the generation component of the
appropriate time-of-use tariff plus an additional component
to be determined by the California Public Utilities Commission to
reflect the locational value and the value of TOU
tariff. The commission shall determine if it is appropriate to
increase the credit to reflect any additional value derived from the
location or the environmental attributes of , the
designated HHWP solar generation.
(d) Monthly charges and credit amounts are interim and
subject to an accounting true-up, consistent with commission policies
and practices. The true-up shall be performed annually or upon the
termination, for any reason, of the Interconnection Agreement. The
true-up shall accomplish the following:
(1) If the total electricity delivered to the site by Pacific Gas
and Electric Company since the previous true-up equals or exceeds the
total electricity exported to the grid by the Hetch Hetchy
photovoltaic electricity generation facility at the site, the City
and County of San Francisco is a net electricity consumer at that
site. For any site where the City and County of San Francisco is a
net electricity consumer, a credit or offset shall be applied to
reduce the obligations of the City and County of San Francisco to an
invoice prepared pursuant to the Interconnection Agreement. If there
is no invoiced obligation to be reduced, there is no applicable
credit.
(2) If the total electricity delivered to the site by Pacific Gas
and Electric Company since the previous true-up is less than the
total electricity exported to the grid by the Hetch Hetchy
photovoltaic electricity generation facility at the site, the City
and County of San Francisco is a net electricity producer at that
site. For any site where the City and County of San Francisco is a
net electricity producer, the City and County of San Francisco shall
receive no credit or offset for the electricity exported to the grid
in excess of the electricity delivered to the site from the grid. For
any site where the City and County of San Francisco is a net
electricity producer, the City and County of San Francisco shall
receive a credit or offset up to the amount of electricity delivered
to the site from the grid. The credit or offset shall be applied to
reduce the obligations of the City and County of San Francisco to an
invoice prepared pursuant to the Interconnection Agreement. If there
is no invoiced obligation to be reduced, there is no applicable
credit or offset. Pacific Gas and Electric Company shall use the
last-in, first-out method to determine what electricity delivered to
the grid from the site will not earn a credit or offset.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, if
the City and County of San Francisco assumes responsibility
as a community choice aggregator for serving any load beyond the
municipal load of the City and County of San Francisco
engages in retail sales to customers within the service territory of
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, as a result of becoming a
community choice aggregator, as a result of municipalization, or
otherwise , all other provisions of this section become
inoperative.
(e)
(f) Pursuant to this section, the offset to charges under
the Interconnection Agreement is the medium to convey credits earned
under this section. Nothing in this section shall be construed to
affect in any way the rights and obligations of the City and County
of San Francisco and Pacific Gas and Electric Company under the
Interconnection Agreement.
(f)
(g) Pacific Gas and Electric Company shall file an advice
letter with the commission, that complies with this section, not
later than 10 days after the City and County of San Francisco first
designates the specific generation facilities that will comprise HHWP
solar generation. The commission, within 30 days of the date of
filing of the advice letter, shall approve the advice letter or
specify conforming changes to be made by Pacific Gas and Electric
Company to be filed in an amended advice letter within 30 days.
(g)
(h) The City and County of San Francisco may terminate its
election pursuant to subdivision (b)
subdivisions (b), (c), and (d), upon providing Pacific Gas and
Electric Company with a minimum of 60 days' written notice.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that, because of the
unique circumstances applicable only to Hetch Hetchy Water and Power
solar generation of electricity, a statute of general applicability
cannot be enacted within the meaning of subdivision (b) of Section 16
of Article IV of the California Constitution. Therefore, this
special statute is necessary.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
SEC. 5. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has several
opportunities to develop large-scale solar generation facilities in
San Francisco in the near future if the issue of exporting some of
the electricity to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company grid can be
resolved. These sites include the covered University Mound
Reservoir, which could accommodate a one-megawatt project, and the
new Moscone West Convention Center, which could also support a
one-megawatt project. Because the City of San Francisco is not
currently eligible for net metering at these sites, it is difficult
to begin planning for project development at these sites.
Development of a large-scale solar generation facility at either site
would be one of the premier solar electricity generation
installations in the United States, providing impetus for additional
solar energy development in California. It is necessary that this
act take effect immediately to enable SFPUC to prepare bid documents
and to select a project developer on an expedited basis in order to
obtain the environmental and public health advantages that these
projects achieve.