1. (a) Voluntary Renewable Electricity Program Requirements. The end-user, or VRE participant acting on behalf of the end-user, must meet the requirements of this section. Generation must not have an online date or have served load prior to July 1, 2005. Allowance retirement for purposes of voluntary renewable electricity will begin in 2014 for 2013 generation, and will continue in the same manner for subsequent years. Allowances will be retired annually from the Voluntary Renewable Electricity Reserve Account for the preceding year's eligible and approved generation in order of increasing vintage year until the account has been exhausted. For the year in which available allowances are exhausted, allowance retirement will be pro-rated among all eligible and approved generation. Voluntary renewable electricity must be directly delivered to California. RECs must represent generation that occurred during the year for which allowance retirement is requested. RECs shall be retired before the submittal of the request to retire allowances pursuant to this section.

   1. (1) Generator Eligibility. Each generator must meet one of these criteria:

      1. (A) Be certified as RPS-eligible by the California Energy Commission;
      2. (B) Received an incentive under the California Solar Initiative Program; or,
      3. (C) Be a solar generation installation interconnected with the distribution system of a California EDU.

2. (b) Reporting Requirements. The end-user, or the VRE participant acting on behalf of the end-user, requesting allowance retirement for eligible generation must meet the following requirements for the period in which allowance retirement is being requested:

   1. (1) By July 1 of each year, provide a written request for allowance retirement from the Voluntary Renewable Electricity Reserve Account and all required documentation for the previous year's eligible generation or REC purchases. The request must meet the requirements below:

      1. (A) Report to ARB the quantity of renewable electricity in MWh, the number of RECs generated during the previous year and designated for VRE allowance retirement from each eligible generator, and the total quantity of MWh for all eligible generators;

      2. (B) Generator eligibility must be demonstrated by providing to ARB:

         1. 1. A California Energy Commission RPS identification number; or
         2. 2. Documentation from an EDU that demonstrates that an incentive payment for each generator was received or approved under California's Solar Electric Incentive Program; or
         3. 3. Documentation from an EDU approving interconnection to the EDU's distribution system;
      3. (C) If WREGIS RECs were created for the generation, provide the WREGIS identification number for each generator and REC retirement report;
      4. (D) If WREGIS RECs were not created for the generation, provide alternative tracking system data documenting the month and year of the generation and documentation that the RECs were not used in any other mandatory or voluntary program;
      5. (E) Contract or settlement data demonstrating the sale to and purchase of the electricity or RECs associated with the generation of the electricity to the end-user or entity purchasing on behalf of the end-user; and

      6. (F) Submit the following attestations:

         1. 1. Submit a signed attestation to ARB as follows: “I certify under penalty of perjury of the laws of the State of California that I have not authorized use of, or sold, any renewable electricity credits or any claims to the emissions, or lack of emissions, for electricity for which I am seeking ARB allowance retirement, in any other voluntary or mandatory program.”
         2. 2. Submit a signed attestation to ARB as follows: “I understand I am voluntarily participating in the California Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade Program under title 17, Cal. Code of Regs. article 5, and by doing so, I am now subject to all regulatory requirements and enforcement mechanisms of this voluntary renewable electricity program and subject myself to the jurisdiction of California as the exclusive venue to resolve any and all disputes.”

3. (c) Allowance Retirement. The number of allowances retired from the Voluntary Renewable Electricity Reserve Account for a VRE participant in a given year are calculated as follows:

   VRE_retired = MWh_VRE x EF_unspecified

   Where:

   “VRE_retired” is the number of allowances to be retired from the Voluntary Renewable Electricity Reserve Account for the VRE participant, rounded down to the nearest whole ton;

   “MWh_VRE” is the amount of voluntary renewable electricity, in MWh, that is generated in the previous year by the VRE participant, meets the eligibility requirements of this article, and is approved by ARB; and

   “EF_unspecified” is the default CO₂e emissions factor for unspecified power, pursuant to section 95111(b)(1) of MRR.

   ARB shall determine the actual MWh of voluntary renewable electricity purchases that occurred during the period indicated in the documentation. ARB shall retire allowances from the Voluntary Renewable Electricity Reserve Account in an amount up to the number of MT CO₂e represented by actual voluntary renewable electricity purchases, based on actual MWh purchases and the emissions factor determined pursuant to this section.

Note: Authority cited: Sections 38510, 38560, 38562, 38570, 38571, 38580, 39600 and 39601, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 38530, 38560.5, 38564, 38565, 38570 and 39600, Health and Safety Code.

History

1. New section filed 12-13-2011; operative 1-1-2012 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2011, No. 50).

2. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (b)(1), (b)(1)(C)-(D) and (c) filed 2-15-2012 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2012, No. 7).

3. Amendment filed 6-26-2014; operative 7-1-2014 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2014, No. 26).

4. Amendment filed 9-18-2017; operative 10-1-2017 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2017, No. 38).

5. Amendment of subsections (a) and (b)(1), new subsection (b)(1)(E), subsection relettering and amendment of newly designated subsections (b)(1)(F)1.-2. filed 3-29-2019; operative 3-29-2019 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2019, No. 13).