Bill Text: CA SB1122 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended


Bill Title: Green electrolytic hydrogen.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-04-03 - From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E., U. & C. [SB1122 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SB1122-Amended.html

Amended  IN  Senate  April 03, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1122


Introduced by Senator Skinner

February 19, 2020


An act to add Section 38561.7 to the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Section 400.3 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1122, as amended, Skinner. Green electrolytic hydrogen.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years.
This bill would require the state board, by December 31, 2022, as a part of the scoping plan, to prepare a strategic plan for accelerating the production and use of green electrolytic hydrogen in California and an analysis of how curtailed power could be better utilized to help meet the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires the PUC and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to undertake specified actions to advance the state’s clean energy and pollution reduction objectives, including, where feasible, cost effective, and consistent with other state policy objectives, increasing the use of large- and small-scale energy storage with a variety of technologies. Existing law specifies that green electrolytic hydrogen, as defined, is one of these energy storage technologies to be targeted for increased use and requires the PUC, State Air Resources Board (state board), state board, and Energy Commission to consider green electrolytic hydrogen an eligible form of energy storage, and to consider other potential uses of green electrolytic hydrogen.
Existing law requires the PUC to identify a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy resources in a cost-effective manner. Existing law requires that the portfolio rely upon zero carbon-emitting resources to the maximum extent reasonable and be designed to achieve any statewide limit on emissions of greenhouse gases established by the state board pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
This bill would require the PUC to consider green electrolytic hydrogen to be a zero carbon-emitting resource for purposes of identifying a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy resources in a cost-effective manner.
Existing law establishes a policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100% of retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045. Existing law requires the PUC, Energy Commission, and state board to utilize programs authorized under existing statutes to achieve this policy.
This bill would require that the PUC, state board, and Energy Commission consider green electrolytic hydrogen to be a zero-carbon resource for these purposes.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Climate change and air pollution threaten the health and prosperity of all Californians. Historic droughts, devastating wildfires, storms, extreme heat, and the death of millions of trees are creating billions of dollars in property damage and threatening human health and food supplies.
(2) California has set ambitious targets to reduce the effects of climate change by reducing carbon emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
(3) In 2018, Governor Brown issued Executive Order No. B-55-18, creating a state goal to reach greenhouse gas neutrality by no later than 2045 and to maintain net negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter, and directing the State Air Resources Board to work with relevant state agencies to develop a framework for implementation and accounting that tracks progress toward these goals.
(4) California’s leadership in driving aggressive emissions reductions has helped bring to market many new forms of renewable energy and fuels, including supporting a rapid decline in prices for renewable power such as solar, wind, and battery storage, and has accelerated adoption and price reduction of zero-emission vehicles. The cost of utility-scale solar power dropped by 50 percent in just four years between 2011 and 2015, and electric vehicle battery prices dropped 87 percent in real terms from 2010 to 2019.
(5) Multiple studies show that renewable hydrogen, particularly green electrolytic hydrogen produced by splitting water, is poised to experience similar cost declines over the next decade.
(6) Achieving these cost reductions and deploying renewable hydrogen at scale would help decarbonize many difficult-to-decarbonize sectors, including buildings, industry, thermal power plants, and the transportation sector, including light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, goods movement, and air travel, and accelerate progress towards the state’s climate, clean air, and clean energy goals.
(7) Renewable hydrogen offers many climate and energy cobenefits, including better utilizing curtailed power and better integrating renewable resources into the electrical grid to achieve greater than 100 percent zero-carbon energy and put renewable electricity to use to decarbonize many other sectors of the economy.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to develop a leading renewable hydrogen industry in California in order to provide accelerated clean air, climate, and energy benefits, better integrate existing renewable resources into the electrical grid, create jobs, and provide new clean technology to decarbonize challenging sectors.

SEC. 2.

 Section 38561.7 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

38561.7.
 Not later than December 31, 2022, as part of the scoping plan prepared pursuant to Section 38561, the state board shall prepare both of the following:
(a) A strategic plan for accelerating the production and use of green electrolytic hydrogen, as defined in Section 400.2 of the Public Utilities Code, in California to help meet the goals set forth in this division. The plan shall include all of the following.
(1) A strategic plan for utilizing green electrolytic hydrogen industry in the state to help achieve the state’s climate, clean energy, and clean air objectives.
(2) An estimate of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions reduction and air quality benefits the state could achieve through deploying green electrolytic hydrogen through a variety of scenarios.
(3) A review of similar efforts to deploy green electrolytic hydrogen internationally, including opportunities to collaborate with other jurisdictions to accelerate market scale, cost reductions, and global climate benefits.
(4) A review of other forms of renewable hydrogen and their relative cost benefits in terms of avoided climate emissions.
(5) Recommendations to the Legislature for legislative or agency actions to implement the strategic plan. The recommendations shall include both of the following:
(A) Recommendations on new definitions of renewable hydrogen.
(B) Recommendations on how to overcome market barriers and accelerate progress in green electrolytic hydrogen production and use, including through demonstration projects, incentives, financing mechanisms, or other policies, and recommendations to maximize economic, environmental, and equity benefits resulting from increased utilization of green electrolytic hydrogen.
(b) An analysis of how curtailed power could be better utilized to help meet the goals set forth in this division, including, but not limited to, whether curtailed power could be made available for the production of green electrolytic hydrogen, as defined in Section 400.2 of the Public Utilities Code. The state board shall consult with the Independent System Operator in the preparation of the analysis.

SECTION 1.SEC. 3.

 Section 400.3 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

400.3.
 The commission, State Air Resources Board, and Energy Commission shall consider green electrolytic hydrogen an eligible form of energy storage, a zero carbon-emitting resource pursuant to Section 454.51, and a zero-carbon resource pursuant to Section 454.53, and shall consider other potential uses of green electrolytic hydrogen.

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