California Code of Regulations
Title 17 - Public Health
Division 3 - Air Resources
Chapter 1 - Air Resources Board
Subchapter 10 - Climate Change
Article 4 - Regulations to Achieve Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions
Subarticle 3.1 - Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear
Section 95353 - Annual Emissions Limit

(a) No GIE owner's annual CO2e emissions excluding emergency events, as calculated pursuant to section 95354.1(c), shall exceed their annual emissions limit.

(b) GIE owners must calculate their average system capacity, Cavg,j,i for each covered insulating gas j for data year i as follows:

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Where:

"Cavg,j,i" is the average system capacity (pounds) for covered insulating gas j in data year i;

"n" is the number of GIE devices k that were active GIE insulated with covered insulating gas j at some point during data year i;

"dk,j" is the number of days during data year i that GIE device k with covered insulating gas j was in active service;

"Ck,j" is the covered insulating gas at activation (pounds) as defined in section 95351(a), for covered insulating gas j of GIE device k; and

"Di" is the number of days in data year i.

(c) GIE owners must calculate their average CO2e capacity on an annual basis as follows for each covered insulating gas j:

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Where:

"Average CO2e capacityi" is the average system capacity expressed in units of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) as calculated for data year i;

"m" is the number of covered insulating gases j;

"GWPj" is the global warming potential of covered insulating gas j;

"Cavg,j,i" is the average system capacity (pounds) as calculated pursuant to section 95353(b); and

" 2204. 62" is the number of pounds in a metric ton.

(d) Beginning with data year 2021, GIE owners who elect to apply an early action credit (EAC) must calculate their EAC as follows on an annual basis:

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Where:

"EACi" is the early action credit (MTCO2e) for data year i;

"n" is the number of GIE devices k that are circuit breakers that became active GIE for the first time during the data year, have a voltage capacity of 72.5 kV or greater, are not insulated with SF6 or oil, and for which the phase-out date for an equivalent SF6 GIE (i.e., has the same GIE characteristics), provided in Table 2 of section 95352, has not been reached;

"Ce,k" is the GHG capacity (MTCO2e) of each equivalent SF6 GIE from Table 3 for device k;

"o" is the number of GIE devices l that were removed from regular use pursuant to section 95354(c)(1) or transferred while in use pursuant to section 95354(c)(2) during the data year that were used to calculate EACi-1;

"Cer,l" is the GHG capacity (MTCO2e) of each equivalent SF6 GIE from Table 3 for device l; and

"EACi-1" is the early action credit (MTCO2e) calculated for the prior data year. The value of EACi-1 for data year i = 2021 is zero.

Table 3. Voltage and GHG Capacities of Equivalent SF6 Circuit Breakers (MTCO2e)

When determining EAC for GIE that are jointly owned, each GIE owner must apply its equity share to calculate the GIE owner's share of the credit, pursuant to section 95354(a)(7)(B).

(e) For data year 2025, GIE owners must calculate their baseline (BL) CO2e capacity12/31/2024 as follows for each covered insulating gas j:

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Where:

"BL CO2e capacity12/31/2024" is the system capacity (MTCO2e) as calculated for December 31, 2024;

"m" is the number of covered insulating gases j;

"GWPj" is the global warming potential of covered insulating gas j;

"Ck,j" is the covered insulating gas at activation (pounds) of GIE device k that was active GIE insulated with gas j on December 31, 2024; and

" 2204. 62" is the number of pounds in a metric ton.

(f) For data years 2025 and beyond, GIE owners must calculate their baseline CO2e capacity as follows for each covered insulating gas j:

BL CO2e capacityi = EAC[LESS THAN EQUAL TO]10 + BL CO2e capacity12/31/2024,i + Average CO2e capacityi

Where:

"BL CO2e capacityi" is the system capacity (MTCO2e) as calculated for data year i;

"EAC[LESS THAN EQUAL TO]10" is the value of EACi (MTCO2e) for data year i, as calculated pursuant to section 95353(d), unless the value of EACi exceeds 10 percent of the reported value for average CO2e capacityi for data year 2021, in which case EAC[LESS THAN EQUAL TO]10 is equal to 10 percent of the reported value for average CO2e capacityi for data year 2021;

"BL CO2e capacity12/31/2024,i" is the system capacity (MTCO2e) as calculated pursuant to section 95353(e)(1); and

"Average CO2e capacityi" is the average system capacity (MTCO2e) as calculated pursuant to section 95353(c).

(g) GIE owners shall establish their emissions limit using the following formulas in conjunction with Table 4 and Table 5:

(h) If in data year 2021 or any subsequent data year the calculated emissions limit is less than 50 MTCO2e, the emissions limit shall be 50 MTCO2e.

(i) Combining of GIE Owners. Whenever multiple GIE owners combine to be under the same GIE owner, the GIE owner's new emissions limit will be the sum of the emission limits that would have been established for each GIE owner had the GIE owners not combined.

All GIE owners who have combined must notify CARB that the combination has occurred within 30 days of the effective date of the combination. The notification must include the date of the combination, the names and ARB identification numbers (if assigned) of the GIE owners who combined, the name of the new GIE owner following the combination, the emission limits previously assigned to each GIE owner, the new GIE owner's emissions limit, the reason(s) for the change, a description of the relationship between the entities being combined (e.g., that they have a common parent organization), and the appropriate attestation statement from section 95355(c).

(j) Splitting of a GIE Owner. Whenever a GIE owner splits into multiple GIE owners, the emissions limit that would have been assigned to the original GIE owner must be split and assigned to the new GIE owners proportionally based on each new GIE owner's equity share of the original system's capacity at the time of the split, calculated pursuant to section 95354(a)(7)(B).

All GIE owners who have split from a former GIE owner must notify CARB that the split has occurred within 30 days of the effective date of the split. The notification must include the date of the split, the name and ARB identification number (if assigned) of the GIE owner that split, the names of the new GIE owners following the split, the emissions limit previously assigned to the GIE owner that split, the new GIE owner's Average CO2e capacityi at the time of the split (prior to data year 2025) or BL CO2e Capacityi (for data year 2025 and later data years), the new GIE owner's emissions limit, the reason(s) for the change, a description of the relationship between the entities being split (e.g., that they have a common parent organization but are independent limited liability companies), and the appropriate attestation statement from section 95355(c).