Energy: renewable electrical generation facilities: definition.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not provide specific information about the fuels that qualify as 'specified fuels' for turbines.

Renewable Energy Facilities: Definition Update

The bill updates the definition of renewable electrical generation facilities to include turbines using specific fuels and applies this new definition to existing programs like the Renewables Portfolio Standard Program and net energy metering program.

What This Bill Does

• Updates the definition of 'renewable electrical generation facility' to include turbines that use specified fuels.
• Applies the updated definition to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, which sets goals for renewable electricity use by retail sellers.
• Includes the new definition in the net energy metering program.

Who It Names or Affects

• Retail electricity sellers
• Customers using renewable electrical generation facilities

Terms To Know

Renewable Portfolio Standard Program

A program that requires retail electricity sellers to buy a certain amount of power from renewable sources.

Net Energy Metering Program

Allows customers who generate their own renewable energy to get credits for the extra power they send back to the grid.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify which fuels are considered 'specified fuels' for turbines.
• It is unclear how this change will affect existing programs and facilities without further details on implementation.

Official Summary Text

SB 1350, as introduced, McNerney.
Energy: renewable electrical generation facilities: definition.
Existing law defines a “renewable electrical generation facility” as a facility that uses biomass, solar thermal, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal, fuel cells or linear generators that use specified fuels, small hydroelectric generation of 30 megawatts or less, digester gas, municipal solid waste conversion, landfill gas, ocean wave, ocean thermal, or tidal current, and that meets other specified requirements. Existing law incorporates that definition into various programs, including the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, which requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from electrical generating facilities that meet that definition of “renewable electrical generation facility,” and the net energy metering program, in which residential
customers, small commercial customers, and commercial, industrial, or agricultural customers of an electrical utility, who use renewable electrical generation facilities, are eligible to participate, as specified.
This bill would revise the definition of “renewable electrical generation facility” to include a facility that uses turbines that use specified fuels.
Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF