AB 2369: Electricity: energy storage: energy-only resources.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), to provide transmission-focused guidance to the Independent System Operator (ISO) about resource portfolios of expected future renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources, as specified, to allow the ISO to identify and approve transmission facilities needed to interconnect resources and reliably serve the needs of load centers. In providing that guidance, existing law requires the PUC and the Energy Commission to annually provide projections to support the Independent System Operators planning and approvals in its annual transmission planning process, as provided.

This bill would require the PUC and Energy Commission, as part of providing those projections, to also identify cost-effective opportunities to increase the reliability contribution or mitigate congestion of planned or existing energy-only resources through transmission capacity expansions. The bill would require the PUC, in consultation with the ISO, on or before January 1, 2029, to develop a methodology for evaluating the contribution of energy-only resources to provide charging sufficiency for energy storage, as provided.