Existing law vests the California Energy Commission (CEC) with the exclusive power to certify sites and related facilities for thermal powerplants. Existing law requires an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, or community choice aggregator with a contract to procure electricity generated from biomass that expires or expired on or before December 31, 2028, to seek to amend the contract to include, or seek approval for a new contract that includes, an expiration date 5 years later than the expiration date in the contract that was operative in 2022, except as specified.
This bill would require the CEC, on or before December 31, 2024, to issue a report on the utility-scale biomass combustion facilities still in operation as of January 1, 2024. The bill would require the report to include an assessment of operational factors of each facility, a comparison of direct combustion compared to other biomass energy technologies, and a recommended strategy, if appropriate, to repower biomass combustion facilities to noncombustion conversion technologies.
The bill would also require the report to include recommendations and strategies related to areas where combustion biomass facilities may be shut down or repowered, including strategies related to baseload power generation, processing waste, and job training, as provided. The bill would require the CEC, in preparing the report, to coordinate with the State Air Resources Board and local air districts on emissions assessments and emissions control options. By imposing new duties on local air districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the CEC, in preparing the report, to coordinate with specified state entities for feedstock assessments for forest, agricultural, urban, and postfire waste, and to provide opportunities for stakeholder and public input.
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