HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESO 9440Resolution No. 9440
Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Terminating the "Power
From Local Ultra-clean Generation Incentive Program" and Repealing
Utility Gas Rate Schedule G-8 (Gas for Electric Generation Service)
RECITALS
A. In March 2007, the Council approved a set of energy portfolio planning
objectives to provide competitive and predictable supply cost while balancing environmental,
local reliability, rate and cost impacts, and pursuing opportunities including local generation to
serve customer energy needs.
B. One of the Council-approved energy portfolio planning objectives was to
promote an ultra-clean distributed generation incentive program.
C. The Council approved the "New Ultra-Clean Local Distributed Generation
Incentive Program" (the PLUG-In Program) (Resolution 8760) and associated Natural Gas rate
schedule G-8 in October 2007 (Resolution 8761) to encourage local electric generation within
Palo Alto City limits; these generation resources were contemplated primarily to be natural gas
fired cogeneration facilities.
D. In December 2007, in an effort to combat climate change, the City of Palo Alto
adopted the Climate Protection Plan, which set aggressive greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
reduction goals to be achieved by the year 2020.
E. In March 2013, the City Council adopted the Carbon Neutral Plan that required
all ofthe City's electric supplies be sourced from carbon neutral resources (Resolution 9322).
F. The Carbon Neutral Plan has significantly diminished the merits of fossil fuel-
fired local co-generation projects in Palo Alto, necessitating a re-examination of the PLUG-In
program.
G. After thorough review, staff recommends terminating the PLUG-In Program and
associated Rate Schedule G-8 (Gas for Electric Generation Service).
H. Termination of the PLUG-In Program will impact no customers, since there has
been no participation in the PLUG-In program since its inception.
I. The City remains committed to promoting local, renewable generation. Since
2013 the City has implemented a Clean Local Energy Action Now (CLEAN) program to encourage
local Photo Voltaic (PV) generation, and anticipates expanding it to other local renewable
electric supplies.
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The Council of the City of Palo Alto hereby RESOLVES as follows:
SECTION 1. The 11Power from Local Ultra-Clean Generation lncentive11 Program (the
PLUG-In Program) is terminated effective June 30, 2014, and all associated and previously
approved Program documents, including the August 2007 PLUG-In Distributed Generation
Program Description and Handbook, are repealed.
SECTION 2. Utility Rate Schedule G-8 (Gas for Electric Generation Service) is hereby
repealed, effective June 30, 2014.
SECTION 3. The Council finds that the adoption of this resolution terminating the
PLUG-In program and its associated rate schedule does not meet the California Environmental
Quality Act's definition of a 11project11 under Public Resources Code Section 21065, thus,
environmental review is not required.
INTRODUCED AND PASSED: June 23, 2014
AYES: BERMAN, BURT, HOLMAN, KLEIN, KNISS, PRICE, SCHARFF, SCHMID, SHEPHERD
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTENTIONS:
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APPROVED:
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