2022 -- S 2178

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LC003758

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- RENEWABLE ENERGY

STANDARD -- SOLAR ENERGY ANALYSIS

     Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Euer, DiMario, Miller, Pearson, and Kallman

     Date Introduced: February 08, 2022

     Referred To: Senate Environment & Agriculture

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 39-26-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 39-26 entitled "Renewable

Energy Standard" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     39-26-2. Definitions.

     When used in this chapter:

     (1) "Alternative compliance payment" means a payment to the renewable energy

development fund of fifty dollars ($50.00) per megawatt-hour of renewable energy obligation, in

2003 dollars, adjusted annually up or down by the consumer price index, which may be made in

lieu of standard means of compliance with this statute.

     (2) "Commission" means the Rhode Island public utilities commission.

     (3) "Compliance year" means a calendar year beginning January 1 and ending December

31, for which an obligated entity must demonstrate that it has met the requirements of this statute.

     (4) "Customer-sited generation facility" means a generation unit that is interconnected on

the end-use customer's side of the retail electricity meter in such a manner that it displaces all or

part of the metered consumption of the end-use customer.

     (5) "Electrical energy product" means an electrical energy offering, including, but not

limited to, last-resort and standard-offer service, that can be distinguished by its generation

attributes or other characteristics, and that is offered for sale by an obligated entity to end-use

customers.

     (6) "Eligible biomass fuel" means fuel sources including brush, stumps, lumber ends and

trimmings, wood pallets, bark, wood chips, shavings, slash, and other clean wood that is not mixed

with other solid wastes; agricultural waste, food, and vegetative material; energy crops; landfill

methane; biogas; or neat biodiesel and other neat liquid fuels that are derived from such fuel

sources.

     (7) "Eligible renewable energy resource" means resources as defined in § 39-26-5.

     (8) "End-use customer" means a person or entity in Rhode Island that purchases electrical

energy at retail from an obligated entity.

     (9) "Environmental justice" means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all

people regardless of race, color, national origin, English language proficiency, or income with

respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations,

and policies.

     (9)(10) "Existing renewable energy resources" means generation units using eligible

renewable energy resources and first going into commercial operation before December 31, 1997.

     (10)(11) "Generation attributes" means the nonprice characteristics of the electrical energy

output of a generation unit including, but not limited to, the unit's fuel type, emissions, vintage, and

policy eligibility.

     (11)(12) "Generation unit" means a facility that converts a fuel or an energy resource into

electrical energy.

     (12)(13) "High-heat medical waste processing facility" means a facility that:

     (i) Generates electricity from the combustion, gasification, or pyrolysis of regulated

medical waste;

     (ii) Generates electricity from the combustion of fuel derived from the gasification or

pyrolysis of regulated medical waste; or

     (iii) Disposes of, processes, or treats regulated medical waste through combustion,

gasification, pyrolysis, or any process that exposes waste to temperatures above four hundred

degrees Fahrenheit (400ºF).

     (14) "Interested parties" means persons or organizations that can affect, be affected by or

perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity. Interested parties are not limited to those

with intervenor status.

     (13)(15) "NE-GIS" means the generation information system operated by NEPOOL, its

designee or successor entity, that includes a generation information database and certificate system,

and that accounts for the generation attributes of electrical energy consumed within NEPOOL.

     (14)(16) "NE-GIS certificate" means an electronic record produced by the NE-GIS that

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identifies the relevant generation attributes of each megawatt-hour accounted for in the NE-GIS.

     (15)(17) "NEPOOL" means the New England Power Pool or its successor.

     (16)(18) "New renewable energy resources" means generation units using eligible

renewable energy resources and first going into commercial operation after December 31, 1997; or

the incremental output of generation units using eligible renewable energy resources that have

demonstrably increased generation in excess of ten percent (10%) using eligible renewable energy

resources through capital investments made after December 31, 1997; but in no case involve any

new impoundment or diversion of water with an average salinity of twenty (20) parts per thousand

or less.

     (17)(19) "Obligated entity" means a person or entity who or that sells electrical energy to

end-use customers in Rhode Island, including, but not limited to: nonregulated power producers

and electric utility distribution companies, as defined in § 39-1-2, supplying standard-offer service,

last-resort service, or any successor service to end-use customers, including Narragansett Electric,

but not to include Block Island Power Company as described in § 39-26-7 or Pascoag Utility

District.

     (18)(20) "Off-grid generation facility" means a generation unit that is not connected to a

utility transmission or distribution system.

     (21) "Predictable source of revenue" means a revenue source that is unlikely to

significantly change over the useful life of a given project.

     (19)(22) "Renewable energy resource" means any one or more of the renewable energy

resources described in § 39-26-5(a).

     (20)(23) "Reserved certificate" means a NE-GIS certificate sold independent of a

transaction involving electrical energy, pursuant to Rule 3.4 or a successor rule of the operating

rules of the NE-GIS.

     (21)(24) "Reserved certificate account" means a specially designated account established

by an obligated entity, pursuant to Rule 3.4 or a successor rule of the operating rules of the NE-

GIS, for transfer and retirement of reserved certificates from the NE-GIS.

     (22)(25) "Self-generator" means an end-use customer in Rhode Island that displaces all or

part of its retail electricity consumption, as metered by the distribution utility to which it

interconnects, through the use of a customer-sited generation facility, and the ownership of any

such facility shall not be considered an obligated entity as a result of any such ownership

arrangement.

     (23)(26) "Small hydro facility" means a facility employing one or more hydroelectric

turbine generators and with an aggregate capacity not exceeding thirty megawatts (30 MW). For

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purposes of this definition, "facility" shall be defined in a manner consistent with Title 18 of the

Code of Federal Regulations, section 292.204; provided, however, that the size of the facility is

limited to thirty megawatts (30 MW), rather than eighty megawatts (80 MW).

     SECTION 2. Chapter 39-26 of the General Laws entitled "Renewable Energy Standard" is

hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

     39-26-11. Analysis of solar energy development.

     (a) In light of the changing solar energy market and chapter 6.2 of title 42 (the "act on

climate"), and no later than sixty (60) days after passage of this section, the commission shall

establish a docket to review and analyze solar energy development in Rhode Island.

     (b) The commission review and analysis conducted pursuant to this chapter shall include,

but not be limited to:

     (1) Compare and contrast all the various solar energy development programs in Rhode

Island and perform a cost-benefit analysis of expansion of each type of solar program;

     (2) Include and factor into consideration, in addition to direct costs and benefits,

environmental costs and benefits, and other indirect and ancillary costs and benefits for each solar

energy development program;

     (3) Include and factor into consideration impacts on health, jobs, land use, environmental

justice, electric service reliability and affordable consumer rates;

     (4) Include and factor into consideration federal, state, local and other renewable

investment tax credits, incentives and grants available for these programs;

     (5) Include and factor into consideration interconnection costs, the commission approved

community large solar ceiling prices for the 2020 and 2021 renewable energy growth program

years, historic community remote net metered rates between 2019 and 2021 and the project

subscriber process as well as the programmatic rules and cost differences; and

     (6) Address the developers' need for a predictable source of revenue which provides a

reasonable foundation for financing their projects against the need to assure that ratepayers are not

paying more than necessary to achieve the megawatt targets set in the Renewable Energy Standard,

chapter 26 of title 39 (the "renewable energy standard") and the Act on Climate, chapter 6.2 of title

42 (the "act on climate"); and

     (7) Include and factor into consideration the state's goals in chapter 26 of title 39, and

chapter 6.2 of title 42.

     (c) For each type of solar energy development program the commission shall determine:

     (1) Whether the benefits of further expansion of each program exceeds the costs; and

     (2) Whether sustainability and stability of each program can be maintained without

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unreasonable burden to ratepayers.

     (d) Taking subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section into consideration, in its report on

the review and analysis, the commission shall make a reasoned recommendation of which solar

energy development program or programs, combination of programs or new programs is or are the

most reasonable and effective means of procuring the best value for distributed solar resources at

the overall best rate to Rhode Island ratepayers.

     (e) The electric distribution company, as defined in § 39-26.2-3, shall furnish all relevant

renewable energy and interconnection data to the commission within thirty (30) days of the docket

being established.

     (f) Prior to the draft report and recommendations, the commission shall provide for at least

three (3) public meetings through an informal process that provides for meaningful public

engagement.

     (g) The commission shall provide a minimum of thirty (30) days for public comment on

the report and host at least one technical working session for interested parties to comment on the

criteria listed above and other data utilized by the commission in making its recommendations. The

commission shall conduct an inclusive process that allows for meaningful public engagement and

publicly and financially accessible meetings and may hold other technical working sessions and/or

evidentiary hearings, as needed.

     (h) The commission shall issue its report on Rhode Island's solar energy development

programs with its review, analysis and recommendations to the governor, the senate president and

the speaker of the house no later than one year after the docket's establishment date.

     SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- RENEWABLE ENERGY

STANDARD -- SOLAR ENERGY ANALYSIS

***

     This act would require the public utilities commission to establish a docket to review and

analyze solar energy development in Rhode Island.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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LC003758

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