For the purpose of financing the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources pursuant to this chapter, “permanently fixed” includes, but is not limited to, systems attached to a residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or other real property pursuant to a power purchase agreement or lease between the owner of the system and the owner of the assessed property, if the power purchase agreement or lease contains all of the following provisions:

(a) The attached system is an eligible renewable energy resource pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code).

Terms Used In California Streets and Highways Code 5899.2

  • Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • public agency: means a city, county, city and county, municipal utility district, community services district, sanitary district, sanitation district, or water district, as defined in §. See California Streets and Highways Code 5898.20
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.

(b) The term of the power purchase agreement or lease is at least as long as the term of the related assessment contract.

(c) The owner of the attached system agrees to install, maintain, and monitor the system for the entire term of the power purchase agreement or lease.

(d) The owner of the attached system is not permitted to remove the system prior to completion of the term of the contractual assessment lien.

(e) After installation, the power purchase agreement or lease is paid, either partially or in full, using the funds from the contractual assessment program.

(f) The right to receive the electricity from the system, through a power purchase agreement or lease or the right to the system itself, is tied to the ownership of the assessed real property and is required to be automatically transferred with the title to the real property whether the title is transferred by voluntary sale, judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure, or by any other means.

(g) The power purchase agreement or lease identifies the public agency that is a party to the assessment contract on the real property as a third-party beneficiary of the power purchase agreement or lease until the assessment lien on the property has been fully paid and, only until that time, prohibits amendments to the power purchase agreement or lease without the consent of the public agency.

(h) In order to ensure that the property owner is guaranteed the electric power from the system for the length of the lien, the system shall not be removed if the owner of the attached system is not performing its obligations under the contract, and one of the following is true:

(1) The owner of the attached system does both of the following:

(A) Covenants in its contract with the property owner that neither the owner of the attached system nor any successor in interest will remove or permanently decommission the attached system during the term of the contract.

(B) Warrants in the contract with the property owner that no assignee, creditor, partner, or owner of the attached system’s owner has, as of the date of the contract or during the remaining term of the contract, the right to remove or permanently decommission the attached system.

(2) The owner of the attached system must be a bankruptcy remote special purpose entity that is bankruptcy remote and meets all of the following conditions:

(A) It does not engage in any business other than owning the attached systems and entering into electricity contracts with the homeowner.

(B) It has no material debt.

(C) Its contracts are either entered into with unrelated third parties or have terms negotiated at arms length.

(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 599, Sec. 8. (AB 1883) Effective January 1, 2015.)

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