The Legislature finds and declares that Chapter 854 of the Statutes of 1996 restructured the California electricity industry and created a competitive electricity generation market. In a competitive generation market, the recovery by powerplant owners of their private investment and operating costs is at risk and no longer guaranteed through regulated rates. Before the California electricity industry was restructured, the regulated cost recovery framework for powerplants justified requiring the commission to determine the need for new generation, and site only powerplants for which need was established. Now that powerplant owners are at risk to recover their investments, it is no longer appropriate to make this determination. It is necessary that California both protect environmental quality and site new powerplants to ensure electricity reliability, improve the environmental performance of the current electricity industry and reduce consumer costs. The success of California’s restructured electricity industry depends upon the willingness of private capital to invest in new powerplants. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the need for determination requirements of the state’s powerplant siting and licensing process to reflect the economics of the restructured electricity industry and ensure the timely construction of new electricity generation capacity.

(Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 581, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2000.)