California Passes Bill Directing Funds to Battery Projects for Resilience in Wildfire Threat Districts

California state lawmakers passed a measure that allots 10 percent of the 2020 funds from the Self Generation Incentive Program, or SGIP, to battery and distributed energy systems that can back up critical infrastructure in high fire threat districts to support resiliency during a deenergization event. The bill, which awaits the governor’s signature, allots $16.6 million to these projects funded through annual collection from customers.

The SGIP program, adopted in 2001 to incentivize distributed resources and reduce power demand, has been revised multiple times. In 2016, the legislature authorized the commission to double the collections to $166 million per year through 2026. The agency allocates 85 percent of the funds to battery technologies.

State regulators issued a decision on Sept. 12 that directs $100 million from the SGIP’s equity budget to support installation of energy storage, which provides electricity when there is an outage or Public Safety Power Shut Off event due to high wildfire risk. The program targets Tier 2 and Tier 3 high fire threat districts, where there is “extreme” and “elevated” risk of fire.

In May, the commission approved wildfire mitigation plans for the state’s electric utilities and also made enhancements to communication and notification guidelines for proactive de-energization of power lines during dangerous conditions that could cause wildfires from equipment failures. The 2018 fire season in California was the most destructive, causing more than 8,000 fires that burned close to 2 million acres, according to the agency. Years of drought, changing weather patterns, extreme heat, strong winds, and low humidity were among the factors that led to the destruction.