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 (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/gie21-final-regulation-unofficial.pdf) (Regulation), which became effective January 1, 2022 and replaces the Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear.

The webinar will be held through the GoToWebinar system. Staff will present information on updated reporting requirements and regulatory processes, give a live demonstration on the updated annual reporting form, and respond to participant questions.

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. New reporting requirements became effective January 1, 2022, and CARB staff has updated the annual reporting form to reflect those changes.

In this webinar, CARB staff will summarize the revised reporting requirements, demonstrate how these changes were implemented in the new reporting form, and highlight common errors. Staff’s presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Relevant materials will be available on CARB’s Electricity Transmission and Distribution Greenhouse Gas Emissions “Meetings and Workshops” (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/elect-tandd/meetings) 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.