Renewable energy resources: electrical corporations: procurement plans.

The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission. The act requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, beginning November 1, 2003, and by November 1 of every odd year thereafter, to adopt an integrated energy policy report which includes an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, an assessment and forecast of system reliability, and the need for resource additions, efficiency, and conservation. The act requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, beginning November 1, 2004, and by November 1 of each even year thereafter, to prepare an energy policy review to update the analyses from the integrated energy policy report or to raise energy issues that have emerged since the release of the integrated energy policy report. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, also known as the RPS program, requires a retail seller of electricity, as defined, and local publicly owned electric utilities to purchase specified minimum quantities of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, for specified compliance periods, sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, and 33% of retail sales by December 31, 2020, and in all subsequent years. This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, in cooperation and consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, the Natural Resources Agency, and the Salton Sea Authority, to convene a stakeholders group to advise the commission on the steps that should be taken to properly develop, integrate, and transmit the electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources located in and around the Salton Sea. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to hold workshops and public hearings and to include its evaluations and recommendations in the next integrated energy policy report or energy policy review update. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act requires the Public Utilities Commission to review and adopt a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act requires that an electrical corporation's proposed procurement plan include certain elements. The act requires the Public Utilities Commission to review and accept, modify, or reject each electrical corporation's procurement plan and requires that each approved procurement plan accomplish specified objectives. This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to establish a value for assessing all procurement contracts for eligible renewable energy resources that includes the cost of integration of those resources into the operation of the electrical grid and would authorize the commission to additionally include other values including voltage support. The bill would require that a procurement plan approved by the Public Utilities Commission accomplish the objective of providing for procurement of preferred resources in a manner that ensures electrical system reliability.