The implications of deregulation for biomass and renewable energy in California. Revision

Abstract

The California legislature took up electric utility deregulation legislation during 1996, culminating in AB 1890, California`s landmark restructuring legislation. The legislation created a transition funding program for renewables. No permanent program for the support of renewable energy production extending beyond the end of the transition period (2002) is included in AB 1890. AB 1890 assigned to the California Energy Commission (CEC) the task of determining how to allocate the renewables transition funds between existing and new renewable generating sources, and among the various renewable energy technologies that are available for deployment in California. The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) was assigned the task of reporting to the legislature about the specific benefits provided by biomass energy production in California, and about policies that could shift some of the cost of biomass energy production away from the electric ratepayer, on to beneficiaries of the environmental benefits of biomass energy production. This study describes the development of the CEC and Cal/EPA reports to the California legislature, and provides an analysis of the major issues that were encountered during the course of their development. The study concludes with a consideration of the future prospects for biomass and renewable energy production in the state.