5. Assignment of Proceeding

Loretta Lynch is the Assigned Commissioner, and Meg Gottstein is the assigned Administrative Law Judge in this proceeding.

Findings of Fact

1. Turbo-expanders represent a waste heat recovery technology that cannot be considered in isolation for the purpose of evaluating its eligibility under our AB 970 self-generation incentives program.

2. Including a waste heat recovery project component of natural gas production and transmission facilities in the AB 970 self-generation incentives program would not be consistent with our decisions to exclude other project components, such as processing equipment for renewable materials and nonrenewable fuels, fuel cleanup for nonrenewable fuels, and thermal load equipment that utilizes waste heat.

3. Mafi-Trench has not demonstrated that turbo-expanders qualify for Level 3 incentives based on the efficiency of the technology when it is not considered in isolation, i.e., in terms of total energy inputs, as D.03-01-006 requires.

4. The application of turbo-expanders appears to be relatively limited.

5. There is very little data available with which to assess the costs, performance, and benefits of completed waste heat recovery projects that utilize turbo-expanders.

6. Mafi-Trench's Petition would require us to expend limited program funds for a technology that utilizes nonrenewable fuel and has relatively high costs per watt.