Renewable energy resources: solar feed-in tariff pilot program for City of Palm Desert.

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 by electrical corporations 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, 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 (renewables portfolio standard) . Existing law requires every electrical corporation to file with the commission a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation. Existing law requires that the electric generation facility: (1) have an effective capacity of not more than 1.5 megawatts and be located on property owned or under the control of the customer, (2) be interconnected and operate in parallel with the electric transmission and distribution grid, (3) be strategically located and interconnected to the electric transmission system in a manner that optimizes the deliverability of electricity generated at the facility to load centers, and (4) meet the definition of an eligible renewable energy resource under the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. Existing law requires that the tariff provide for payment for every kilowatthour of electricity generated by an electric generation facility at a market price referent established by the commission pursuant to the program. Existing law requires the electrical corporation to make this tariff available to customers that own and operate an electric generation facility within the service territory of the electrical corporation, upon request, on a first-come-first-served basis, until the combined statewide cumulative rated generating capacity of those electric generation facilities equals 500 megawatts, or the electrical corporation meets its proportionate share of the 500 megawatt limit based upon the ratio of its peak demand to total statewide peak demand of all electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to modify or adjust the above-described requirements for any electrical corporation with less than 100,000 service connections, as individual circumstances merit. Existing law provides that the electricity generated by an electric generation facility counts toward the electrical corporation's renewables portfolio standard and provides that the physical generating capacity counts toward meeting the electrical corporation's resource adequacy requirements. This bill would establish a solar feed-in tariff, as defined, pilot program that is applicable to the City of Palm Desert, which is within the service territory of Southern California Edison Company. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order or direction of the commission is a crime. Because this bill would require an order or other action of the commission to implement its provisions and a violation of that order or action would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.