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AB-2789 State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission: distributed energy resources: study.(2019-2020)

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Date Published: 03/17/2020 04:00 AM
AB2789:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 16, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2789

Introduced by Assembly Member Kamlager

February 20, 2020

An act to add and repeal Section 913.16 to 25405.7 of the Public Utilities Resources Code, relating to electricity, and making an appropriation therefor. electricity.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2789, as amended, Kamlager. Electricity: electrical grid outages: cost avoidance: study. State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission: distributed energy resources: study.
Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and sets forth its powers and duties. Existing law requires the commission, at least every 2 years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices.
This bill would require the commission to make specified determinations relating to distributed energy resources and the electric transmission and distribution systems by January 1, 2022.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requests the California Council on Science and Technology to undertake and complete a study analyzing the regional and gas corporation specific issues relating to minimum heating value and maximum siloxane specifications adopted by the commission for biomethane before it can be injected into common carrier gas pipelines. Existing law, until January 1, 2023, requests the council, upon request by the chairperson of a fiscal committee or certain policy committees of either the Assembly or Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, or the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and if the council determines it has sufficient funds, to undertake and complete an analysis of the effects of legislation proposing to mandate procurement of electricity products, gas products, energy storage resources, or electrical or gas infrastructure by an electrical corporation, gas corporation, community choice aggregator, electric service provider, local publicly owned electric or gas utility, or any state-level energy procurement entity.

This bill would require the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to request the council to undertake and complete a study, as specified, relative to electrical grid outages and cost avoidance resulting from deployment of eligible renewable energy resources, battery storage systems, and demand response technologies. The bill would require the PUC to report the results of the study to the Legislature by January 1, 2022. The bill would appropriate $1,500,000 to the PUC for the study.

Vote: TWO_THIRDSMAJORITY   Appropriation: YESNO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Blackouts and natural disasters require increased attention to energy resiliency and electrical grid reliability, and the push to electrify transportation and building end-uses creates an added challenge for local energy capacity.
(b) The Legislature and state agencies need rigorous, objective data that they can depend on to make critical decisions about investments in electrical grid infrastructure.
(c) Current analyses from state agencies on electrical system planning do not involve the creation of scenarios using power flow modeling.

SEC. 2.

 Section 25405.7 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

25405.7.
 (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Distributed energy resources” means load management technologies and renewable electricity generation and energy storage systems interconnected to the electric distribution system.
(2) “Public safety power shutoff” means an intentional deenergization of electrical infrastructure for the purpose of avoiding hazardous conditions on the electrical grid.
(b) By January 1, 2022, the commission shall determine all of the following related to the electric transmission and distribution systems:
(1) The potential to rely on distributed energy resources to maintain electric service for circuits or substations at risk of a public safety power shutoff.
(2) The net cost or savings of relying on distributed energy resources instead of traditional upgrades to the transmission and distribution systems to mitigate the risk of igniting wildfires while maintaining reliable service. In calculating the net cost or savings, the commission shall consider the energy, capacity, and ancillary service benefits of the distributed energy resources, the cost of the distributed energy resources, and the cost of traditional transmission and distribution upgrades.
(3) Using grid planning modeling tools, the total value of electric transmission and distribution infrastructure that is not necessary because of installed capacity of behind-the-meter distributed energy resources in existence at the time of the study.
(4) Using grid planning modeling tools, the estimated value of electric transmission and distribution infrastructure that may not be necessary because of behind-the-meter distributed energy resources, battery energy storage systems, and demand response technologies between 2020 and 2040 under various transportation and building end-use electrification scenarios.
(5) For an electrical corporation serving more than 5,000,000 electrical service customer accounts that is also a gas corporation, a grid needs assessment that considers transmission and distribution system upgrade needs for the following five years.
(c) An electrical corporation shall make available to the commission and any consultant with whom the commission contracts for purposes of this section all data necessary to plan for transmission and distribution system maintenance and expansion.
(d) The commission shall make its findings pursuant to subdivision (b) available for all relevant regulatory proceedings.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2026, and as of that date is repealed.

SECTION 1.Section 913.16 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
913.16.

(a)The commission, in consultation with the Energy Commission, shall request the California Council on Science and Technology to undertake and complete a study to determine all of the following:

(1)The economic impacts of electrical grid outages, both planned and unplanned.

(2)The potential to reduce the extent of grid outages by shifting to a more flexible and decentralized electrical system.

(3)The total value of avoided electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure avoided by installed capacity of behind-the-meter distributed eligible renewable energy resources in existence at the time of the study.

(4)The estimated value of electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure that may be avoided by behind-the-meter eligible renewable energy resources, battery energy storage systems, and demand response technologies between 2020 and 2040, under various transportation and building end-use electrification scenarios.

(b)The results of the study shall be reported to the Legislature by January 1, 2022.

(c)Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on January 1, 2026.

SEC. 2.

The amount of one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the commission study authorized by Section 913.16 of the Public Utilities Code.