OREANDA-NEWS. California's Assembly is looking to put its mark on a set of landmark climate bills with just a month left in the 2015 state legislative session.

The two centerpiece bills, SB 32 and SB 350, would extend the state's greenhouse gas reduction targets and set new goals for cutting petroleum use and increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency. The bills are working their way toward the Assembly floor as it scrambles to wrap up work before the end of the session on 11 September. The state Senate approved the bills in June.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee yesterday delayed a vote on SB 350 as stakeholders, Assembly leaders and bill author Senate president Kevin de Leon (D) negotiate on a number of issues. The talks could lead to changes in the bill's petroleum reduction provisions as well as in the way renewable energy credits are banked under the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and how retail sellers and small utilities are treated.

Senator Fran Pavley (D), the author of SB 32, told the Assembly panel she is holding onto the bill while she negotiates an amendment to increase legislative oversight of the state Air Resources Board's actions to implement the law. Pavley said she is negotiating with Assembly Appropriations Committee leader Jimmy Gomez (D) and Assembly Natural Resources Committee leader Das Williams (D).

SB 350 would raise the state's RPS target to 50pc by 2030, but such an increase would need to be accompanied by steps to improve the integration of new renewables into the state grid. The legislature's Select Committee on California's Clean Energy Economy held a hearing on the issue yesterday.

Solar accounts for the vast majority of new renewable power installations in California, which has led to a spike in generation during midday hours. At noon today California had about 6,400MW of utility-scale solar power serving the grid, making up more than half of the 10,850MW conventional renewables on line at the time.

This can lead to renewables pushing conventional natural gas generation off line, which has created negative power pricing situations in the California market at midday to induce units to shut down.

The California Public Utilities Commission says it is working on changes to help prepare the state to integrate more renewable power, from renegotiating existing renewable electricity contacts to allow for curtailment to changing tariffs for industrial and home customers.

If the Assembly does not pass the bills by 11 September, it may have time later as governor Jerry Brown (D) has called special sessions to deal with funding for highway and road maintenance and other issues. Republicans in the legislature say the state should divert some of the money raised by the cap-and-trade program's auctions to fund road projects, since emissions from the use of gasoline and diesel have been covered by the program since January.