On November 3rd, RCRC formally opposed the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) Proposed Decision that would terminate the state’s BioMAT program on December 31, 2025.
The BioMAT program 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; 3) sustainable forest management. Assembly Bill 843 (Aguiar Curry) of 2021 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 statute itself does not have a sunset date, a previous CPUC decision established a December 31, 2025, program end date.
In its letter, RCRC argued that the CPUC’s Proposed Decision “is arbitrary, unlawful, and will have damaging consequences for important wildfire prevention and waste management efforts.”
RCRC joins the Bioenergy Association of California, Pioneer Community Energy, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, West Biofuels, Phoenix Energy, Dairy Cares, the Agricultural Energy Consumers Association, and the California Association of Sanitation Agencies in opposing the program’s termination. RCRC’s letter in opposition can be found here.
For more information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, John Kennedy.