A legislative attempt to provide rail agencies compensation for their energy generation isn’t advancing this year, but Caltrain officials are hopeful the effort will progress in the near future.
Assembly Bill 1372, sponsored by Assemblymember Diane Papan, D-San Mateo, was largely aimed at helping Caltrain, which switched from diesel to electric service at the end of last year. The legislation would have facilitated agreement between utility providers like Pacific Gas and Electric and Caltrain to allow the rail agency to get compensated for the electricity it sends back to the grid
With the new electrified service, the trains generate and subsequently export, energy when braking, a process known as regenerative braking. About 23% of the energy Caltrain consumes goes back to the grid through the process.
Because it’s a two-year bill, elected officials and transit leaders are still optimistic for next year, said David Burruto, Papan’s district director.
Caltrain Energy Manager John Passmann said the legislation would put in motion the necessary steps to start receiving compensation.
“Regenerative braking is not recognized as a technology that can be compensated for … mostly because it's not something that's been contemplated before,” Passmann said. “PG&E is very constrained from a regulatory lens, so they can't really do it without someone above them telling them to do it.”
Caltrain would be the first such customer in the state to receive reimbursement from regenerative braking, though similar approaches have been used in Denver and in the Northeast, Prassman added. He estimates the rail agency could receive anywhere from about $1 million to $2 million in offsetting credits on electricity bills, which roughly equates to 17,000 megawatt hours annually.
Since the switch to electric service, energy costs are still lower than originally anticipated — about $16.5 million annually, a decrease from the original $19.5 million — and it’s also enrolled in the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, which could bring in about $6 million per year in credits. The program functions similar to a cap-and-trade system, where any entity that sells or uses fuel above a certain benchmark goes into a deficit. Conversely, those that use less than the benchmark, such as Caltrain, receive credits which can be sold to those operating on a deficit.
“We filed for and received credits for Q4 2024, and we will be working on Q1 2025 pretty soon,” Passman said. “The credits are rolling in, and we are getting pretty close to selling our first batch as well.”
(2) comments
Good luck. I look forward to no new taxes to subsidize Caltrain but don’t forget that Trump is attempting to cancel the extortion racket known as cap-and-trade which allows corporations to burn as much carbon as they want as the fund the global warming industrial complex.
The cap-and-trade made Elon Musk - now apparently done in DC - rich. Tesla would have folded many times over if they weren't kept alive through this California subsidy.
In fact the whole automotive industry and car infrastructure is one subsidy after another which then is kicked back to lawmakers in form of 'campaign financing' - a term known to others in the world as 'corruption racket'.
Just lock how quickly senator Josh Becker, assembly man Marc Berman, supervisor Ray Mueller are pushing to fix a road known for speeding (hwy 92), while staying quiet on those roads known to be safety hazards to people on foot (hwy 1 and hwy 82).
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