Title
Environmental Management Department recommending the Board authorize the Chair to sign a letter of support for California Assembly Bill 843, which aims to allow Community Choice Aggregators access to existing state funding for renewable bioenergy electricity projects including biomass and biogas.
FUNDING: N/A
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Assembly Bill 843 (Aguiar-Curry, D-04) is a narrow bill aimed to allow Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) to access an existing state program that provides funding for renewable bioenergy electricity projects, including biomass and biogas. Pioneer Community Energy, of which El Dorado County is a member, is a Co-Sponsor of the legislation.
In 2012, Senate Bill 1122 created a bioenergy feed-in tariff within the Renewable Portfolio Standard program. It required Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) to procure 250 MW from then-new small-scale bioenergy projects. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) created the BioMAT program, a feed-in tariff specifically for this purpose. Currently, only IOUs can access the BioMAT funds, and there is a large amount of available capacity remaining under the 250 MW cap set in statute. At the time of SB 1122’s passage, only one CCA had launched.
In the CPUC’s most recent review of the BioMAT program, its Energy Division Staff recommended that CCAs, among others, be permitted to procure and recover costs for the BioMAT program. But the Commission rejected this recommendation given the statutory limitations of SB 1122, which only included IOUs.
Separately, cities and counties are currently implementing SB 1383 (2016), which sets targets for reducing short-lived climate pollutants including methane, and black carbon. One of the potential compliance pathways a city/county can take to reduce short-lived climate pollutants is through bioenergy. Some local governments have expressed interest in exploring bioenergy with their CCAs, but these projects are usually cost-prohibitive for CCAs without access to cost recovery through the BioMAT program.
AB 843 provides opportunities for CCAs to purchase more baseload resources, contributing to grid reliability as California’s energy mix becomes increasingly intermittent. The direct benefit to El Dorado County of the bill's passage is that the County itself, as a customer of Pioneer, would be able to satisfy all or some of the procurement requirements of the 1383 regulations.
The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) supports the legislation.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board could choose not to sign the letter of support.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
N/A
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Chief Administrative Office recommends the Board approve the Chair's letter of support.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact to the County to issue the letter of support.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
Obtain the Chair's signature on the letter. Return to CAO for distribution to Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry's office.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Infrastructure
CONTACT
Greg Stanton, Director of Environmental Management