California Code of Regulations
Title 20 - Public Utilities and Energy
Division 2 - State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission
Chapter 5 - Power Plant Site Certification
Article 1 - General Provisions Applicable to Notices of Intent and Applications for Certification
B - Filing and Information Requirements for Notices and Applications
Section 1704 - Information Requirements for Notices of Intent and Applications for Certification

Universal Citation: 20 CA Code of Regs 1704

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024

(a) General Requirements. All notices and applications shall conform to the following requirements:

(1) Except where otherwise indicated, any descriptions, statements, analyses, and discussions required in the notice or application shall extend to the site and related facilities.

(2) An applicant may incorporate by reference any information developed or submitted in any previous commission proceeding, provided that the notice or application contains a summary of the referenced material, identifies the proceeding in which it was submitted, and explains the relevance of the material to the information requirement. To the extent possible, the applicant should rely on findings, conclusions, analyses, policies, and other guidelines adopted or established in the most recent Biennial Report in order to satisfy the information requirements.

(3) The notice or application shall include or reference the following:
(A) Descriptions of all significant assumptions, methodologies, and computational methods used in arriving at conclusions in the document;

(B) Descriptions, including methodologies and findings, of all major studies or research efforts undertaken and relied upon to provide information for the document; and a description of ongoing research of significance to the project (including expected completion dates); and

(C) A list of all literature relied upon or referenced in the document, along with brief discussions of the relevance of each such reference.

(4) Each principal subject area covered in a notice or application shall be set forth in a separate chapter or section, each of which shall identify the person or persons responsible for its preparation.

(b) The informational requirements for notices and applications are contained in this section and in appendices to this Chapter. Maps required in this section and in the appendices shall be provided at the scale specified in the appendices, except that applicants may provide maps at a different scale if the maps are legible and if a written explanation of why this different scale is more appropriate is included in the notice or application. The term region means a geographic area that is normally contiguous and exhibits similar geographic characteristics. The term vicinity means both that area in close proximity to the project site and which receives a preponderance of the direct impacts of the project. The area referred to by the terms vicinity and region will overlap, although, in most circumstances, the vicinity will be part of the region. The size of the region and vicinity that should be discussed in the filing will vary depending on the project's location (e.g., rural, urban, coastal), its technology (e.g., nuclear, coal, geothermal), and by technical area. Applicants should use their professional judgment in determining the appropriate size of the region and vicinity to be discussed in the application. A statement explaining the extent of the area described for each technical area shall be included.

(1) The notice of intention shall contain all the information specified in Appendix A to this chapter for a nongeothermal site and related facilities, and Appendix C for a geothermal site and related facilities.

(2) The application for certification shall contain all information specified by Appendix B of this chapter and the commission decision approving the notice, if any.

(3) Except where where otherwise indicated, any descriptions, statements, analyses, and discussions required in a geothermal notice or application shall extend to the geothermal power plant and associated geothermal field, including, but not limited to, wells that supply the power plant or re-inject geothermal fluids, resource conveyance lines, major access roads, storage sites, switchyards, waste disposal sites, and all other structures or improvements which are related to the power plant. Information and data concerning the associated geothermal field are required to the extent that they relate to the environmental impacts of the entire project or to the reliability of the proposed power plant. Absent new information or changed circumstances, incorporation of environmental impact reports on the geothermal field will fulfill the requirements for field information.

(4) Where required information on any aspect of the proposed geothermal power plant is unavailable, the geothermal notice may contain typical operating data or projections representative of the size and type of the facilities proposed, together with a discussion of the applicability of the data to the proposed facilities, an identification of limitations inherent in the representative data, an explanation for the unavailability of the required information, and an estimate of when such information will be available. The substitution of representative or projected information for the information requested in Appendix C is intended to allow and encourage the filing of a notice prior to the discovery or confirmation of commercial resources.

(c) Information requirements for applications. The application for certification shall contain all the information required by Appendix B of this article (for nongeothermal projects) or Appendices B or C of Article 4 (for geothermal projects) and any information required by the decision on the notice (see Section 1805, Article 4 for geothermal requirements).

1. Amendment of subsection (a)(2) filed 1-11-83; designated effective 2-1-83 pursuant to Government Code section 11346.2(d) (Register 83, No. 3).
2. Amendment of subsection (a)(1) and NOTE, repealer of subsections (b)-(c) and new subsections (b)-(b)(5) filed 8-10-93; operative 9-9-93 (Register 93, No. 33).
3. Editorial correction of printing error in subsection (a)(2) (Register 93, No. 33).
4. Amendment of subsections (b) and (b)(2), repealer of subsections (b)(2)(A)-(B) and amendment of NOTE filed 4-17-96; operative 5-17-96 (Register 96, No. 16).
5. Amendment of section heading and subsection (b), repealer of subsection (b)(5) and amendment of NOTE filed 12-5-2018; operative 1-1-2019 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2018, No. 49).

Note: Authority cited: Sections 25213, 25216.5(a), 25218(e) and 25541.5, Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 21080.5, 25308.5, 25504, 25519(a), 25519(c), 25520, 25522(b), 25523(d)(1), 25540.1, 25540.2 and 25540.6, Public Resources Code.

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