Electricity: microgrids.

(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to take specified actions by December 1, 2020, to facilitate the commercialization of microgrids for distribution customers of large electrical corporations, including developing microgrid service standards necessary to meet state and local permitting requirements and developing methods to reduce barriers for microgrid deployment without shifting costs between ratepayers. This bill would require the commission, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to create a database of critical facilities and critical infrastructure, and related critical circuits that are located in tier 2 or tier 3 high fire-threat districts served by electrical corporations, and identify with respect to each whether it serves low-income households or low-income communities, as defined. The bill would require an electrical corporation, upon request, to collaborate with local governments or community choice aggregators within its service area to identify critical circuits and microgrid projects. The bill would authorize the above listed entities and local publicly owned electric utilities to use capacity resulting from a microgrid project to satisfy specified resource adequacy requirements. The bill would require electrical corporations to provide local governments, tribal governments, and community choice aggregators with electrical distribution equipment data, transmission and distribution circuit data, grid hardening plans, and other information requested by those entities to ensure that they are able to plan and develop microgrid projects collaboratively with the electrical corporations. The bill would authorize the electrical corporations to require the use of a commission-approved nondisclosure agreement before providing the requested information. (2) Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers. This bill would require the commission and the Independent System Operator, in an existing proceeding, to develop a methodology, as provided, to account for the resource adequacy value of distributed storage no later than July 31, 2021. (3) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.