2023 California Code › Public Utilities Code - PUC › DIVISION 1 - REGULATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES › PART 1 - PUBLIC UTILITIES ACT › CHAPTER 4 - Regulation of Public Utilities › ARTICLE 3 - Equipment, Practices, and Facilities › Section 784.1.

784.1. (a) The Legislature requests that the California Council on Science and Technology undertake and complete a study analyzing the regional and gas corporation specific issues relating to minimum heating value and maximum siloxane specifications for biomethane before it can be injected into common carrier gas pipelines, including those specifications adopted in Sections 4.4.3.3 and 4.4.4 of commission Decision 14-01-034 (January 16, 2014), Decision Regarding the Biomethane Implementation Tasks in Assembly Bill 1900. The study shall consider and evaluate other states’ standards, the source of biomethane, the dilution of biomethane after it is injected into the pipeline, the equipment and technology upgrades required to meet the minimum heating value specifications, including the impacts of those specifications on the cost, volume of biomethane sold, equipment operation, and safety. The study shall also consider whether different sources of biogas should have different standards or if all sources should adhere to one standard for the minimum heating value and maximum permissible level of siloxanes. The study shall develop the best science reasonably available and not merely be a literature review. In order to meet the state’s goals for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants and the state’s goals for promoting the use of renewable energy resources in place of burning fossil fuels, the California Council on Science and Technology, if it agrees to undertake and complete the study, shall complete the study within nine months of entering into a contract to undertake and complete the study.
(b) (1) If the California Council on Science and Technology agrees to undertake and complete the study pursuant to subdivision (a), the commission shall require each gas corporation operating common carrier pipelines in California to proportionately contribute to the expenses to undertake the study pursuant to Sections 740 and 740.1. The commission may modify the monetary incentives made available pursuant to commission Decision 15-06-029 (June 11, 2015), Decision Regarding the Costs of Compliance with Decision 14-01-034 and Adoption of Biomethane Promotion Policies and Program, to allocate some of the moneys that would be made available for incentives to instead be made available to pay for the costs of the study so as to not further burden ratepayers with additional expense.
(2) The commission’s authority pursuant to paragraph (1) shall apply notwithstanding whether the gas corporation has proposed the program pursuant to Section 740.1.
(c) If the California Council on Science and Technology agrees to undertake and complete the study pursuant to subdivision (a), within six months of its completion, the commission shall reevaluate its requirements and standards adopted pursuant to Section 25421 of the Health and Safety Code relative to the requirements and standards for biomethane to be injected into common carrier pipelines and, if appropriate, change those requirements and standards or adopt new requirements and standards, giving due deference to the conclusions and recommendations made in the study by the California Council on Science and Technology.
(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 341, Sec. 11. (SB 840) Effective September 13, 2016.)