IID board votes to support renewable energy bill SB 100
The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors voted Monday to support four different bills that have been introduced in the state’s legislature including Senate Bill 100 which sets the goal of 100 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard to be met by 2045.
General Manager Kevin Kelley said during the meeting he believes IID is the first utility in the state of California to officially expressed support for the legislation.
SB 100 was introduced by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) last week. The bill requires power providers to obtain all of its energy from renewable sources by the end of 2045 and also ramps up the 2030 mandate from 50 to 60 percent.
Although the bill is expected to change as it moves through various committees in the legislature, the fact that the bill doesn’t include any language regarding a state plan for regionalization to buy power from other states in the U.S. was enough for IID staff to recommend the board to support the bill, although it was made clear that that support could be withdrawn if the regionalization issue resurfaces in this legislation.
“One caveat worth adding to the letter of support is that if at any point before this bill moves out of the committee with any inclusion of regionalization language, at that time we would turn our support into opposition or at least oppose those provisions. At this time the bill is silent on regionalization,” said Governmental Affairs Officer Antonio Ortega.
Director Jim Hanks wanted to know whether clean energy sources such as large hydroelectric and rooftop solar would be considered renewable sources under the bill, neither qualified under SB 350 which was enacted in 2015.
Ortega said that remains unchanged in this legislation but noted he foresees the Senate Energy, utilities, and communications committee may recommend the addition of large hydro to qualify under the bill.
Kelley added that the rooftop solar industry will seek to be included in the bill, but suggested large hydro may have an easier task to qualify as a renewable source under the bill.
The possible non-inclusion of rooftop solar under SB 100 could be problematic since the California utilities currently have the mandate to offer the Net Energy Metering program with a cap at 5 percent of its peak demand.
In the case of IID, the utility currently has to buy more than 50 megawatts of rooftop solar that do not count toward the RPS goal.
Other Bills
IID also approved support for three other bills, Assembly Bill 798 authored by Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) which will require the Natural Resources Agency to undertake certain planning activities and secure funding for specific goals regarding the restoration of the Salton Sea as well as acknowledging the State Water Resources Control Board jurisdiction in the Salton Sea efforts.
The board also approved support for AB 920 by Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) to require the California Public Utilities Commission that when reviewing each utility’s resource plan to evaluate the mix of renewable resources to ensure utilities have balanced portfolios with an appropriate mix of peaking, dispatchable, baseload energy sources.
The fourth and final bill the IID voted to support is Senate Bill 615 authored by Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego).
The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to develop a 10year plan to implement the memorandum of understanding between the agency and the U.S. Department of the Interior related to the Salton Sea by Jan. 1, 2018.
The lone bill the IID voted to oppose is AB 1667 by Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), her bill would impose urban water supply standards and practices to the agricultural sector. The legislation would require all agricultural suppliers to adopt a water management plan and offer delivery of water to growers within 24 hours of a request and adopt a sophisticated drought plan.