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Bills

SB 1305: Electricity: virtual power plant procurement.

  • Session Year: 2023-2024
  • House: Senate
  • Latest Version Date: 2024-03-18

Current Status:

Failed

(2024-04-18: April 22 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.)

Introduced

In Committee

First Chamber

In Committee

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:
Existing law, the Public Utilities Act, directs the Public Utilities Commission to require each load-serving entity, defined to include electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators, to maintain physical generating capacity and electrical demand response adequate to meet their load requirements as part of their resource adequacy requirements.This bill would require each load-serving entity to procure from virtual power plants, defined as actively coordinated aggregations of behind-the-meter distributed energy resources that can perform certain functions, sufficient capacity to meet specified minimum capacity requirements by certain dates, as provided. The bill would require capacity procured from a virtual power plant by a load-serving entity pursuant to these provisions to be used to meet the resource adequacy requirements established for the load-serving entity. The bill would authorize the commission to postpone, in one-year increments, the deadlines for compliance with these requirements for a particular load-serving entity if the commission makes certain findings. The bill would require, on or before January 30, 2026, and each year thereafter, each load-serving entity to submit a report to the commission showing the load-serving entitys progress toward complying with the virtual power plant capacity requirements.

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for all electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators. Existing law requires electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators to maintain physical generating capacity and electrical demand response adequate to meet their load requirements, as specified.

This bill would require the PUC, in coordination with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to take specified actions in relation to virtual power plants, as defined. The bill would require the PUC, on or before March 1, 2026, to begin a proceeding to determine targets for each electrical corporation to procure generation from cost-effective virtual power plants, and would require the PUC, on or before October 1, 2026, to finalize its proceeding and issue a decision adopting virtual power plant procurement targets to be achieved by each electrical corporation on or before December 31, 2028, and on or before December 31, 2033. The bill would, upon the PUC adopting virtual power plant procurement targets, require each electrical corporation, beginning January 30, 2028, and each year thereafter, to file a report with the PUC on its progress toward complying with the virtual power plant procurement targets.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission PUC is a crime.

Because the above above-described provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission PUC action implementing this bills requirements would be a crime, the 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 a specified reason.

News Coverage:

SB 1305: Electricity: virtual power plant procurement. | Digital Democracy