California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: renewable energy credits.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The existing definition of an electrical corporation excludes from that definition a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology or digester gas technology for the generation of electricity for (1) its own use or the use of not more than 2 of its tenants located on the real property on which the electricity is generated, (2) the use of or sale to not more than 2 other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated, or (3) the sale or transmission to an electrical corporation or state or local public agency, if the sale or transmission of the electricity service to a retail customer is provided through the transmission system of the existing local publicly owned electric utility or electrical corporation of that retail customer. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, at specified percentages of the total kilowatthours sold to their retail end-customers during specified compliance periods. The program additionally requires each local publicly owned electric utility, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources to achieve the targets established by the program. The program, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project viability principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as specified, referred to as the portfolio content requirements. 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 qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. This tariff requirement is known as the renewable feed-in tariff program. The program additionally requires the commission, by June 1, 2013, to direct the electrical corporations to collectively procure at least 250 megawatts of cumulative rated generating capacity from developers of bioenergy projects that commence operation on or after June 1, 2013. Pursuant to this requirement, the commission has established the small-scale bioenergy feed-in tariff program. This bill would provide that renewable energy credits may be used to meet the first category of the portfolio content requirements if (1) the credits are earned by electricity that is generated by an entity that, if it were a person or corporation, would be excluded from the definition of an electrical corporation by operation of the exclusions for a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology or digester gas technology, (2) the entity employing the landfill gas technology or digester gas technology has a first point of interconnection with a California balancing authority, a first point of interconnection with distribution facilities used to serve end users within a California balancing authority area, or is scheduled from the eligible renewable energy resource into a California balancing authority without substituting electricity from another source, (3) where the electricity generated that earned the credit is used at a wastewater treatment facility that is owned by a public entity, (4) the generating capability, as specified, of the wastewater treatment facility that earned the renewable energy credit is first put into service on or after January 1, 2016, and (5) the wastewater treatment facility does not participate in the small-scale bioenergy feed-in tariff program. The bill would prohibit a public entity, selling renewable energy that is eligible to meet the first category of the portfolio content requirements pursuant to the bill's provisions, from making any marketing or advertising claims regarding the renewable attributes of the electricity that earned the renewable energy credit. The bill would require that the electricity generated that earned the renewable energy credit that is sold by the public entity be added to the total retail sales of the retail seller or local publicly owned electric utility purchasing the renewable energy credit for purposes of determining their renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements.