California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff will be providing an online webinar for entities subject to the Regulation for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Gas-Insulated Equipment (amended Regulation), previously known as the Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear (original Regulation). Amendments to the Regulation became effective January 1, 2022.

The workshop will be held through the GoToWebinar online webinar system. Staff will present slides and then respond to participant questions. Presentation topics will include:

• An overview of the revised reporting form for data year 2021
• New requirements taking effect in 2022

Purpose of the Webinar

The Regulation requires all regulated entities to submit an annual report to CARB by June 1 (or first business day thereafter) of each year, for activities and emissions that occurred during the previous calendar year. For data year 2021, the reporting requirements largely follow the original Regulation, with provisions added in the amended Regulation related to the Early Action Credit and the Emissions Limit that became effective January 1, 2022.

In this webinar, CARB staff will describe revisions to the 2021 reporting form and will summarize some of the revised concepts and new requirements under the amended Regulation.

Relevant materials will be available on CARB’s Electricity Transmission and Distribution Greenhouse Gas Emissions “Meetings and Workshops” webpage.

Background

As part of compliance with the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32), CARB adopted the Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF₆) Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear in 2010, which required gas-insulated switchgear owners to lower their SF₆ emission rate to one percent by 2020. In response to emerging technologies using lower or zero global warming potential (GWP) insulators, CARB amended the regulation in 2021 to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from gas-insulated equipment. Key provisions of the amended Regulation include a phase-out schedule for new SF₆ gas-insulated equipment, coverage of other greenhouse gases beyond SF₆ used in gas-insulated equipment, and other changes that enhance accuracy of emissions accounting and reporting. These amendments were approved by the State’s Office of Administrative Law and were filed with the Secretary of State on December 30, 2021. The regulatory amendments became effective January 1, 2022.

SF₆ is the most potent of the six main greenhouse gases with a GWP over 20,000 times that of CO₂ over 100 years.  It also has an extremely long atmospheric lifetime of about 3,200 years.