399.30
. (a) (1) To fulfill unmet long-term generation resource
needs, each local publicly owned electric utility shall adopt and
implement a renewable energy resources procurement plan that requires
the utility to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products
from eligible renewable energy resources, including renewable energy
credits, as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to the
utility's retail end-use customers, each compliance period, to
achieve the targets of subdivision (c).
(2) Beginning January 1, 2019, a local publicly owned electric
utility subject to Section 9621 shall incorporate the renewable
energy resources procurement plan required by this section as part of
a broader integrated resource plan developed and adopted pursuant to
Section 9621.
(b) The governing board shall implement procurement targets for a
local publicly owned electric utility that require the utility to
procure a minimum quantity of eligible renewable energy resources for
each of the following compliance periods:
(1) January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013, inclusive.
(2) January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2016, inclusive.
(3) January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2020, inclusive.
(4) January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2024, inclusive.
(5) January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2027, inclusive.
(6) January 1, 2028, to December 31, 2030, inclusive.
(c) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility
shall ensure all of the following:
(1) The quantities of eligible renewable energy resources to be
procured for the compliance period from January 1, 2011, to December
31, 2013, inclusive, are equal to an average of 20 percent of retail
sales.
(2) The quantities of eligible renewable energy resources to be
procured for all other compliance periods reflect reasonable progress
in each of the intervening years sufficient to ensure that the
procurement of electricity products from eligible renewable energy
resources achieves 25 percent of retail sales by December 31, 2016,
33 percent by December 31, 2020, 40 percent by December 31, 2024, 45
percent by December 31, 2027, and 50 percent by December 31, 2030.
The Energy Commission shall establish appropriate multiyear
compliance periods for all subsequent years that require the local
publicly owned electric utility to procure not less than 50 percent
of retail sales of electricity products from eligible renewable
energy resources.
(3) A local publicly owned electric utility shall adopt
procurement requirements consistent with Section 399.16.
(4) Beginning January 1, 2014, in calculating the procurement
requirements under this article, a local publicly owned electric
utility may exclude from its total retail sales the kilowatthours
generated by an eligible renewable energy resource that is credited
to a participating customer pursuant to a voluntary green pricing or
shared renewable generation program. Any exclusion shall be limited
to electricity products that do not meet the portfolio content
criteria set forth in paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b) of
Section 399.16. Any renewable energy credits associated with
electricity credited to a participating customer shall not be used
for compliance with procurement requirements under this article,
shall be retired on behalf of the participating customer, and shall
not be further sold, transferred, or otherwise monetized for any
purpose. To the extent possible for generation that is excluded from
retail sales under this subdivision, a local publicly owned electric
utility shall seek to procure those eligible renewable energy
resources that are located in reasonable proximity to program
participants.
(d) (1) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric
utility shall adopt procurement requirements consistent with
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of, and
subdivision (b) of, Section 399.13.
(2) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility
may adopt the following measures:
(A) Conditions that allow for delaying timely compliance
consistent with subdivision (b) of Section 399.15.
(B) Cost limitations for procurement expenditures consistent with
subdivision (c) of Section 399.15.
(e) The governing board of the local publicly owned electric
utility shall adopt a program for the enforcement of this article.
The program shall be adopted at a publicly noticed meeting offering
all interested parties an opportunity to comment. Not less than 30
days' notice shall be given to the public of any meeting held for
purposes of adopting the program. Not less than 10 days' notice shall
be given to the public before any meeting is held to make a
substantive change to the program.
(f) (1) Each local publicly owned electric utility shall annually
post notice, in accordance with Chapter 9 (commencing with Section
54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code,
whenever its governing body will deliberate in public on its
renewable energy resources procurement plan.
(2) Contemporaneous with the posting of the notice of a public
meeting to consider the renewable energy resources procurement plan,
the local publicly owned electric utility shall notify the Energy
Commission of the date, time, and location of the meeting in order to
enable the Energy Commission to post the information on its Internet
Web site. This requirement is satisfied if the local publicly owned
electric utility provides the uniform resource locator (URL) that
links to this information.
(3) Upon distribution to its governing body of information related
to its renewable energy resources procurement status and future
plans, for its consideration at a noticed public meeting, the local
publicly owned electric utility shall make that information available
to the public and shall provide the Energy Commission with an
electronic copy of the documents for posting on the Energy Commission'
s Internet Web site. This requirement is satisfied if the local
publicly owned electric utility provides the uniform resource locator
(URL) that links to the documents or information regarding other
manners of access to the documents.
(g) A public utility district that receives all of its electricity
pursuant to a preference right adopted and authorized by the United
States Congress pursuant to Section 4 of the Trinity River Division
Act of August 12, 1955 (Public Law 84-386) shall be in compliance
with the renewable energy procurement requirements of this article.
(h) For a local publicly owned electric utility that was in
existence on or before January 1, 2009, that provides retail electric
service to 15,000 or fewer customer accounts in California, and is
interconnected to a balancing authority located outside this state
but within the WECC, an eligible renewable energy resource includes a
facility that is located outside California that is connected to the
WECC transmission system, if all of the following conditions are
met:
(1) The electricity generated by the facility is procured by the
local publicly owned electric utility, is delivered to the balancing
authority area in which the local publicly owned electric utility is
located, and is not used to fulfill renewable energy procurement
requirements of other states.
(2) The local publicly owned electric utility participates in, and
complies with, the accounting system administered by the Energy
Commission pursuant to this article.
(3) The Energy Commission verifies that the electricity generated
by the facility is eligible to meet the renewables portfolio standard
procurement requirements.
(i) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), for a local publicly owned
electric utility that is a joint powers authority of districts
established pursuant to state law on or before January 1, 2005, that
furnish electric services other than to residential customers, and is
formed pursuant to the Irrigation District Law (Division 11
(commencing with Section 20500) of the Water Code), the percentage of
total kilowatthours sold to the district's retail end-use customers,
upon which the renewables portfolio standard procurement
requirements in subdivision (b) are calculated, shall be based on the
authority's average retail sales over the previous seven years. If
the authority has not furnished electric service for seven years,
then the calculation shall be based on average retail sales over the
number of completed years during which the authority has provided
electric service.
(j) A local publicly owned electric utility in a city and county
that only receives greater than 67 percent of its electricity sources
from hydroelectric generation located within the state that it owns
and operates, and that does not meet the definition of a "renewable
electrical generation facility" pursuant to Section 25741 of the
Public Resources Code, shall be required to procure eligible
renewable energy resources, including renewable energy credits, to
meet only the electricity demands unsatisfied by its hydroelectric
generation in any given year, in order to satisfy its renewable
energy procurement requirements.
(k) (1) A local publicly owned electric utility that receives
greater than 50 percent of its annual retail sales from its own
hydroelectric generation that is not an eligible renewable energy
resource shall not be required to procure additional eligible
renewable energy resources in excess of either of the following:
(A) The portion of its retail sales not supplied by its own
hydroelectric generation. For these purposes, retail sales supplied
by an increase in hydroelectric generation resulting from an increase
in the amount of water stored by a dam because the dam is enlarged
or otherwise modified after December 31, 2012, shall not count as
being retail sales supplied by the utility's own hydroelectric
generation.
(B) The cost limitation adopted pursuant to this section.
(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, "hydroelectric
generation" means electricity generated from a hydroelectric facility
that satisfies all of the following:
(A) Is owned solely and operated by the local publicly owned
electric utility as of 1967.
(B) Serves a local publicly owned electric utility with a
distribution system demand of less than 150 megawatts.
(C) Involves a contract in which an electrical corporation
receives the benefit of the electric generation through June of 2014,
at which time the benefit reverts back to the ownership and control
of the local publicly owned electric utility.
(D) Has a maximum penstock flow capacity of no more than 3,200
cubic feet per second and includes a regulating reservoir with a
small hydroelectric generation facility producing fewer than 20
megawatts with a maximum penstock flow capacity of no more than 3,000
cubic feet per second.
(3) This subdivision does not reduce or eliminate any renewable
procurement requirement for any compliance period ending prior to
January 1, 2014.
(4) This subdivision does not require a local publicly owned
electric utility to purchase additional eligible renewable energy
resources in excess of the procurement requirements of subdivision
(c).
(l) (1) (A) For purposes of this subdivision, "large hydroelectric
generation" means electricity generated from a hydroelectric
facility that is not an eligible renewable energy resource and
provides electricity to a local publicly owned electric utility from
facilities owned by the federal government as a part of the federal
Central Valley Project or a joint powers agency formed and created
pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of
Title 1 of the Government Code.
(B) Large hydroelectric generation does not include any resource
that meets the definition of hydroelectric generation set forth in
subdivision (k).
(2) If, during a year within a compliance period set forth in
subdivision (b), a local publicly owned electric utility receives
greater than 50 percent of its retail sales from large hydroelectric
generation, it is not required to procure eligible renewable energy
resources that exceed the lesser of the following for that year:
(A) The portion of the local publicly owned electric utility
retail sales unsatisfied by the local publicly owned electric utility'
s large hydroelectric generation.
(B) The soft target adopted by the Energy Commission for the
intervening year of the relevant compliance period.
(3) Except for an existing agreement effective as of January 1,
2015, or extension or renewal of that agreement, any new procurement
commitment shall not be eligible to count towards the determination
that the local publicly owned electric utility receives more than 50
percent of its retail sales from large hydroelectric generation in
any year.
(4) The Energy Commission shall adjust the total quantities of
eligible renewable energy resources to be procured by a local
publicly owned electric utility for a compliance period to reflect
any reductions required pursuant to paragraph (2).
(5) This subdivision does not modify the compliance obligation of
a local publicly owned electric utility to satisfy the requirements
of subdivision (c) of Section 399.16.
(m) (1) (A) For purposes of this subdivision, "unavoidable
long-term contracts and ownership agreements" means commitments for
electricity from a coal-fired powerplant, located outside the state,
originally entered into by a local publicly owned electric utility
before June 1, 2010, that is not subsequently modified to result in
an extension of the duration of the agreement or result in an
increase in total quantities of energy delivered during any
compliance period set forth in subdivision (b).
(B) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility
shall demonstrate in its renewable energy resources procurement plan
required pursuant to subdivision (f) that any cancellation or
divestment of the commitment would result in significant economic
harm to its retail customers that cannot be substantially mitigated
through resale, transfer to another entity, early closure of the
facility, or other feasible measures.
(2) For the compliance period set forth in paragraph (4) of
subdivision (b), a local publicly owned electric utility meeting the
requirement of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) may adjust its
renewable energy procurement targets to ensure that the procurement
of additional electricity from eligible renewable energy resources,
in combination with the procurement of electricity from unavoidable
long-term contracts and ownership agreements, does not exceed the
total retail sales of the local publicly owned electric utility
during that compliance period. The local publicly owned electric
utility may limit its procurement of eligible renewable energy
resources for that compliance period to no less than an average of 33
percent of its retail sales.
(3) The Energy Commission shall approve any reductions in
procurement targets proposed by a local publicly owned electric
utility if it determines that the requirements of this subdivision
are satisfied.
(n) A local publicly owned electric utility shall retain
discretion over both of the following:
(1) The mix of eligible renewable energy resources procured by the
utility and those additional generation resources procured by the
utility for purposes of ensuring resource adequacy and reliability.
(2) The reasonable costs incurred by the utility for eligible
renewable energy resources owned by the utility.
(o) The Energy Commission shall adopt regulations specifying
procedures for enforcement of this article. The regulations shall
include a public process under which the Energy Commission may issue
a notice of violation and correction against a local publicly owned
electric utility for failure to comply with this article, and for
referral of violations to the State Air Resources Board for penalties
pursuant to subdivision (n).
(p) (1) Upon a determination by the Energy Commission that a local
publicly owned electric utility has failed to comply with this
article, the Energy Commission shall refer the failure to comply with
this article to the State Air Resources Board, which may impose
penalties to enforce this article consistent with Part 6 (commencing
with Section 38580) of Division 25.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
Any penalties imposed shall be comparable to those adopted by the
commission for noncompliance by retail sellers.
(2) Any penalties collected by the State Air Resources Board
pursuant to this article shall be deposited in the Air Pollution
Control Fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, shall be
expended for reducing emissions of air pollution or greenhouse gases
within the same geographic area as the local publicly owned electric
utility.