On September 18, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a Proposed Decision that would effectively end the state’s BioMAT program on December 31, 2025.
BioMAT is the outgrowth of Senate Bill 1122 (Rubio) of 2012, which requires the CPUC to establish a new feed-in-tariff program for small bioenergy projects. The law requires investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to collectively procure 250 MW of energy from projects under 3MW in size. The program establishes “buckets” and requires IOUs to purchase specified amounts of bioenergy from: 1) Wastewater treatment, municipal organic waste diversion, food processing, and co-digestion; 2) Dairy and agriculture; and 3) sustainable forest management.
In 2021, Assembly Bill 843 (Aguiar Curry) also authorized community choice aggregators (CCA) to participate in the program, although it took two years for the CPUC to update program guidelines to allow CCA’s to use BioMAT.
While the original statute itself does not have a sunset date, a previous CPUC decision established a December 31, 2025, program end date.
The BioMAT program is recognized by many state agencies and stakeholders as an important tool in the state’s wildfire risk reduction and forest health improvement toolbox. By providing an alternative to open burning of forest and agricultural waste, the BioMAT program can significantly reduce wildfire risks and air pollutant emissions.
The CPUC, PG&E, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric favor sunsetting the program in the interest of ratepayer affordability, despite the fact that the BioMAT program costs ratepayers about $30 million annually and its elimination would lower average rates by about 0.1%. The Bioenergy Association of California and California Association of Sanitation Agencies and many others oppose the CPUC’s proposed program termination.
Several dozen projects are in various stages of planning, development, or construction and are likely to fail if the program sunsets. These projects are located throughout the state, but many are located in RCRC counties and have received millions of dollars in funding from the Governor’s Jobs First Initiative, state and federal grants, and local water agencies.
RCRC has long-supported biomass energy generation and extension of the BioMAT program’s sunset date. RCRC will prepare and submit comments to the CPUC and other regulatory agencies opposing the attempted sunset.
For more information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, John Kennedy.