On March 4, Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and ten other legislators sent a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) urging the CPUC to “extend and fully implement” the BioMAT program.
The BioMAT program requires investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to procure energy from smaller biomass facilities (less than 5MW in size). Under the program, if generators offer electricity under specified price points, the three IOUs must procure:
- 110 MW of power from biogas from wastewater treatment, municipal organic waste diversion, food process, and co-digestion
- 90 MW from dairy and other agricultural bioenergy
- 50MW from bioenergy using biproducts of sustainable forest management
AB 843 (Aguiar-Curry) of 2021 allowed community choice aggregators (CCA) to participate in the program.
While the statute creating the program did not contain a sunset date, the CPUC’s implementing decisions sunset the program on December 31, 2025.
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 criteria air pollutant emissions.
After repeated requests by many organizations (including RCRC) over a period of several years, the CPUC is considering whether to extend the program’s sunset date in an ongoing proceeding concerning renewable energy (R.24-01-017).
Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry was joined on the letter by Senators Marie Alvarado-Gil, Anna Caballero, Megan Dahle, Melissa Hurtado, Jerry McNerney, Roger Niello, and Tim Grayson and Assembly Members Damon Connolly, Heather Hadwick, and Jacqui Irwin.
For more information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, John Kennedy.