Renewable energy resources.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities on the commission with respect to the purchase of electricity and requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan and a renewable energy procurement plan for each electrical corporation pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The program requires that a retail seller of electricity, including electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers, purchase a specified minimum percentage of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, in any given year as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to retail end-use customers each calendar year. Under existing law, the incremental increase in the amount of electricity generated from a hydroelectric generation facility as a result of efficiency improvements at the facility is electricity from an eligible renewable resource for purposes of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program if certain requirements are met. One of these requirements is that the hydroelectric generation facility has been certified by the State Water Resources Control Board pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act or by a regional board to which the board has delegated authority. This bill would, for a hydroelectric generation facility that is not located in California, authorize the applicable state board, agency, or regional board having that authority, to issue the certification pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act. The bill would add a requirement that the facility be owned by a retail seller or local publicly owned electric utility.