399.12.6
. (a) (1) Any procurement of biomethane delivered through a
common carrier pipeline under a contract executed by a retail seller
or local publicly owned electric utility and reported to the Energy
Commission prior to March 29, 2012, and otherwise eligible under the
rules in place as of the date of contract execution shall count
toward the procurement requirements established in this article,
under the rules in place at the time the contract was executed,
including the Fourth Edition of the Energy Commission's Renewables
Portfolio Standard Eligibility Guidebook, provided that those rules
shall apply only to sources that are producing biomethane and
injecting it into a common carrier pipeline on or before April 1,
2014.
(2) The eligibility requirements of subdivision (b) shall apply
beginning March 29, 2012, to any quantities of biomethane associated
with any of the following:
(A) An extension of the term of the original contract.
(B) Any quantity of biomethane that exceeds the quantities of
biomethane specified in the original contract.
(C) Any optional quantities of biomethane that can be exercised at
the discretion of the buyer.
(D) Any change in the source or sources of biomethane identified
in the original contract or the original application for
certification submitted to the Energy Commission.
(E) Any quantity of biomethane from a source not producing and
capturing biomethane and injecting it into a common carrier pipeline
on or before April 1, 2014.
(F) The conditions of this paragraph shall apply beginning March
29, 2012.
(b) For contracts initially executed on or after March 29, 2012,
or for quantities of biomethane associated with contract amendments
executed on or after March 29, 2012, the use of biomethane by a
generating facility shall not qualify as an eligible renewable energy
resource unless it satisfies all applicable requirements established
by the Energy Commission and meets any of the following
requirements:
(1) The biomethane is used by an onsite generating facility.
(2) The biomethane is used by an offsite generating facility and
delivered to the generating facility through a dedicated pipeline.
(3) The biomethane is delivered to a generating facility through a
common carrier pipeline and meets all of the following requirements:
(A) The source of biomethane injects the biomethane into a common
carrier pipeline that physically flows within California or toward
the generating facility for which the biomethane was procured under
the original contract.
(B) The source of biomethane did not inject biomethane into a
common carrier pipeline prior to March 29, 2012, or the source
commenced injection of sufficient incremental quantities of
biomethane after March 29, 2012, to satisfy the contract
requirements.
(C) The seller or purchaser of the biomethane demonstrates that
the capture and injection of biomethane into a common carrier
pipeline directly results in at least one of the following
environmental benefits to California:
(i) The reduction or avoidance of the emission of any criteria air
pollutant in California.
(ii) The reduction or avoidance of pollutants that could have an
adverse impact on waters of the state.
(iii) The alleviation of a local nuisance within California that
is associated with the emission of odors.
(c) For all electricity products generated using biomethane that
are credited toward the renewables portfolio standard procurement
obligations established pursuant to this article, sufficient
renewable and environmental attributes of biomethane production and
capture shall be transferred to the retail seller or local publicly
owned electric utility that uses that biomethane to ensure that there
are zero net emissions associated with the production of electricity
from the generating facility using the biomethane. The provisions of
this subdivision shall be applied in a manner consistent with the
definition of "green attributes" as specified by the commission in
Decision 08-08-028, Decision on Definition and Attributes of
Renewable Energy Credits for Compliance with the California
Renewables Portfolio Standard (August 21, 2008), as may be modified
by subsequent decision of the commission.
(d) All sellers and purchasers of biomethane shall comply with a
system for tracking and verifying the use of biomethane, as
established by the Energy Commission, that is equivalent to the
system required by subdivision (c) of Section 399.25.
(e) For contracts initially executed on or after March 29, 2012,
or for quantities of biomethane associated with contract amendments
executed after March 29, 2012, the use of biomethane shall be
assigned to the appropriate portfolio content category based on the
application of the criteria in subdivision (b) of Section 399.16 to
the procurement of electricity by the retail seller or local publicly
owned electric utility from the generating facility consuming the
biomethane.
(f) A retail seller, local publicly owned electric utility, or an
intermediary party to a biomethane procurement contract shall not
make a marketing, regulatory, or retail claim that asserts that a
biomethane procurement contract to which that entity was a party
resulted, or will result, in greenhouse gas reductions related to the
destruction of methane if the capture and destruction is required by
law. If the capture and destruction of the biomethane is not
required by law, a retail seller, local publicly owned electric
utility, or an intermediary party to a biomethane procurement
contract shall not make a marketing, regulatory, or retail claim that
asserts that a biomethane procurement contract to which that entity
was a party resulted, or will result, in greenhouse gas reductions
related to the destruction of methane, unless the environmental
attributes associated with the capture and destruction of the
biomethane pursuant to that contract are transferred to the retail
seller or publicly owned electric utility that purchased that
biomethane and retired on behalf of the retail customers consuming
the electricity associated with the use of that biomethane, or unless
the biomethane procurement contract prohibits the source of
biomethane from separately marketing the environmental attributes
associated with the capture and destruction of the biomethane sold
pursuant to that contract. These attributes shall be retired and may
not be resold.
(g) For the purposes of this section, "biomethane" means landfill
gas or digester gas, consistent with Section 25741 of the Public
Resources Code.
(h) If any provision of this section or the application of any
provision of this section is held invalid, biomethane delivered
through a common carrier pipeline pursuant to a contract executed
within 180 days of, or at any time subsequent to, the invalidation of
that provision shall not qualify as an eligible renewable energy
resource.