AB 2700: Electrical corporation: California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: procurement plans.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, defined as including an electrical corporation, 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-use customers during specified compliance periods. The program requires the commission to direct each electrical corporation to annually prepare a renewable energy procurement plan to satisfy its procurement requirements pursuant to the program. As part of the renewable energy procurement plan process, the commission is required to adopt rules establishing a process that provides criteria for the rank ordering and selection of least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources to comply with the programs procurement obligations and requires that the criteria take specified matters into account, including workforce recruitment, training, and retention efforts, as specified.

This bill would require that the criteria take into account jobs retained associated with contracting for existing eligible renewable energy resources. The bill would require the commission to update the criteria by July 1, 2017, to identify the value of maintaining existing baseload resources to achieve the goal of a balanced portfolio of eligible renewable energy resources.