SB 801: Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility: electrical grid data: electricity demand reduction and response: energy storage solutions.

(1)Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law, enacted during the energy crisis of 200001, requires a local publicly owned electric utility to review at the earliest practicable date its rates, tariffs, and rules to identify barriers to and determine the appropriate balance of costs and benefits of distributed energy resources in order to facilitate the installation of distributed energy resources in the interest of its customer-owners and the state, and to hold at least one noticed public meeting to solicit public comment on the review and any recommended changes.

This bill would require a local publicly owned electric utility that provides electric service to 250,000 or more customers within the Los Angeles Basin to make publicly available, upon request of any person, electrical grid data necessary or useful to enable distributed energy resource providers to target solutions that support reliability in the area where electrical reliability has been impacted as a result of reductions in gas storage capacity and gas deliverability resulting from the well failure at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility.

(2)Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility, in procuring energy to serve the load of its retail end-use customers, to first acquire all available energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires each local publicly owned electric utility to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, to achieve the procurement requirements established by the program.

To the extent doing so is cost effective, this bill would require a local publicly owned electric utility providing electric service to more than 250,000 customers within the Los Angeles Basin to maximize the use of demand response, renewable energy resources, and energy efficiency to reduce demand in the area where electrical reliability has been impacted as a result of reductions in gas storage capacity and gas deliverability resulting from the well failure at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility.

(3)Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to determine appropriate targets for each load-serving entity to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems to be achieved by December 31, 2020. Existing law requires the governing board of each local publicly owned electric utility to determine appropriate targets for the utility to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems to be achieved by December 31, 2020.

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to direct the states 3 largest electrical corporations to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread deployment of distributed energy storage systems, as defined. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in distributed energy storage systems, up to a maximum capacity of 500 megawatts in aggregate, as provided.

This bill would require the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, in coordination with the city council of the City of Los Angeles, by June 1, 2018, to determine the cost-effectiveness and feasability of deploying a minimum aggregate total of 100 megawatts of cost-effective energy storage solutions and, if it determines that doing so is cost effective and feasible, to consider deploying those cost-effective energy storage solutions after June 1, 2018. The bill would require an electrical corporation serving the Los Angeles Basin, by June 1, 2018, to the extent doing so is cost effective and feasible and necessary to meet the reliability requirements of the electrical system in the Los Angeles Basin, to deploy a minimum aggregate total of 20 megawatts of cost-effective energy storage solutions and would authorize the electrical corporation to count these cost-effective energy storage solutions towards the capacity requirement for purposes of the distributed energy storage requirements described above.

(4)The Public Utilities Act provides for the assessment of criminal fines and civil penalties for violation of the act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission. Existing law requires that fines and penalties imposed by the Public Utilities Commission pursuant to the Public Utilities Act be paid to the General Fund.

Notwithstanding this requirement, this bill would require certain moneys collected by the Public Utilities Commission from a gas corporation serving the Los Angeles Basin pursuant to an administrative enforcement or legal proceeding relating to the well failure at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility to be deposited in the Aliso Canyon Recovery Account, which the bill would create. The bill would authorize moneys in the Aliso Canyon Recovery Account to be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of mitigating impacts on local air quality, public health, and ratepayers resulting from the well failure at Aliso Canyon.

(5)Existing law creates the Gas Storage Facility Leak Mitigation Account and requires the commission to deposit moneys from penalties assessed against a gas corporation in regards to a natural gas storage facility leak into the account. Existing law specifies purposes for these moneys, including purposes solely applicable to moneys from penalties assessed for the Aliso Canyon gas leak.

This bill would repeal the provisions establishing the account and the provisions concerning the expenditure of moneys deposited in the account.

(6)The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the Public Utilities Commission and specified public utilities shall take immediate actions to support rapid compliance with the bills provisions, and would state the intent of the Legislature that local governments strongly consider taking immediate actions for these purposes.

(7)Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the Public Utilities Commission is a crime.

Because certain of the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the Public Utilities Commission implementing its requirements by an electrical corporation would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.

Because the bill would impose additional duties upon local publicly owned electric utilities in the Los Angeles Basin, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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 specified reasons.

(8)This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Los Angeles Basin.