ALJ/AES/lil Date of Issuance 12/21/2011
Decision 11-12-052 December 15, 2011
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Order Instituting Rulemaking to Continue Implementation and Administration of California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. |
Rulemaking 11-05-005 (Filed May 5, 2011) |
DECISION IMPLEMENTING PORTFOLIO CONTENT CATEGORIES FOR THE RENEWABLES PORTFOLIO STANDARD PROGRAM
DECISION IMPLEMENTING PORTFOLIO CONTENT CATEGORIES FOR THE RENEWABLES PORTFOLIO STANDARD PROGRAM 11
3.1. Legislative Background 55
3.3. Upfront showings and compliance determinations 88
3.3.1. Upfront showing in IOUs' advice letters 1010
3.3.2. Compliance determinations for all retail sellers 1111
3.4. Repeal of "Delivery" Requirement for RPS Eligibility 1414
3.5. Section 399.16(b): RPS Portfolio Content Categories 1717
3.5.1. Section 399.16(b)(1): Interconnected to a California Balancing Authority, Scheduled Without Substitution, and Dynamically Transferred Energy 1818
3.5.1.1.4.1. Import Schedule 2323
3.5.1.1.4.2. Ancillary Services 2323
3.5.1.1.4.3. Without Substituting Electricity from Another Source 2424
3.5.1.1.4.4. Fraction Actually Generated 2424
3.5.2. Section 399.16(b)(1)(B) Dynamic Transfer 2727
3.5.3. Characterization of "Unbundled Renewable Energy Credits" 2828
3.6. Section 399.16(b)(2) Firmed and Shaped Transactions Providing Incremental Energy 4343
3.6.3. Ratepayer protection requirements 4949
3.6.5. Upfront Showing and Compliance Determination for Section 399.16(b)(2) 5252
3.7. Section 399.16(b)(3) Unbundled RECs and Electricity that
does not Qualify Under Sections 399.16(b)(1) or (2) 5454
3.7.1. Rules for unbundled RECs 5555
3.7.2. Upfront Showing and Compliance Determination for Section 399.16(b)(3) 5656
3.7.3. Exceptional Department of Water Resources (DWR) contracts 5757
3.8. Section 399.16(c) Usage Limitations 5959
3.9. Section 399.16(d) Contracts or Ownership Agreements Prior to June 1, 2010 6060
3.11. Application of § 399.16 to Small and Multi-Jurisdictional
Utilities 6363
4. Comments on Proposed Decision 6565
APPENDIX A
DECISION IMPLEMENTING PORTFOLIO CONTENT CATEGORIES
FOR THE RENEWABLES PORTFOLIO STANDARD PROGRAM
1. Summary
In this decision, the Commission implements some of the many changes to the renewables portfolio standard (RPS) program made by recent legislation.1 This decision focuses on new Pub. Util. Code § 399.16, which establishes three new portfolio content categories for RPS procurement and sets minimum and maximum quantities of procurement in each category.
This decision provides practical guidance to retail sellers-investor-owned utilities (IOUs), electric service providers, and community choice aggregators-about how RPS procurement will meet the criteria for inclusion in each of the new RPS portfolio content categories that apply to RPS procurement associated with contracts and ownership agreements executed after June 1, 2010.
This decision requires all retail sellers to provide sufficient information about their RPS procurement for Commission staff to make a compliance determination that the retail seller's RPS procurement actually meets the requirements of the portfolio content category in which it is claimed. In addition, IOUs will be required to provide specific information when seeking Commission approval of RPS procurement contracts that will allow Commission staff to evaluate the proposed portfolio content category of the planned procurement, and the value and risk of the planned procurement to IOU ratepayers.
This decision also confirms the ruling in the Scoping Memo and Ruling of Assigned Commissioner (July 8, 2011) that small and multi-jurisdictional utilities are not required to comply with the quantitative requirements for procurement in each of the new portfolio content categories set by the statute. This proceeding remains open.
1 Senate Bill (SB) 2 (1X) (Simitian), Stats. 2011, ch. 1, enacted in the 2011-2012 First Extraordinary Session of the Legislature, went into effect on the 91st day after adjournment of the special session at which the bill was passed. (Gov't. Code § 9600(a).) The 2011-2012 First Extraordinary Session adjourned on September 10, 2011, making SB 2 (1X) effective on December 10, 2011.
