2022 -- S 2178 SUBSTITUTE A | |
======== | |
LC003758/SUB A | |
======== | |
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022 | |
____________ | |
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: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Section 39-26-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 39-26 entitled "Renewable |
2 | Energy Standard" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 39-26-2. Definitions. |
4 | When used in this chapter: |
5 | (1) "Alternative compliance payment" means a payment to the renewable energy |
6 | development fund of fifty dollars ($50.00) per megawatt-hour of renewable energy obligation, in |
7 | 2003 dollars, adjusted annually up or down by the consumer price index, which may be made in |
8 | lieu of standard means of compliance with this statute. |
9 | (2) "Commission" means the Rhode Island public utilities commission. |
10 | (3) "Compliance year" means a calendar year beginning January 1 and ending December |
11 | 31, for which an obligated entity must demonstrate that it has met the requirements of this statute. |
12 | (4) "Customer-sited generation facility" means a generation unit that is interconnected on |
13 | the end-use customer's side of the retail electricity meter in such a manner that it displaces all or |
14 | part of the metered consumption of the end-use customer. |
15 | (5) "Electrical energy product" means an electrical energy offering, including, but not |
16 | limited to, last-resort and standard-offer service, that can be distinguished by its generation |
17 | attributes or other characteristics, and that is offered for sale by an obligated entity to end-use |
18 | customers. |
| |
1 | (6) "Eligible biomass fuel" means fuel sources including brush, stumps, lumber ends and |
2 | trimmings, wood pallets, bark, wood chips, shavings, slash, and other clean wood that is not mixed |
3 | with other solid wastes; agricultural waste, food, and vegetative material; energy crops; landfill |
4 | methane; biogas; or neat biodiesel and other neat liquid fuels that are derived from such fuel |
5 | sources. |
6 | (7) "Eligible renewable energy resource" means resources as defined in § 39-26-5. |
7 | (8) "End-use customer" means a person or entity in Rhode Island that purchases electrical |
8 | energy at retail from an obligated entity. |
9 | (9) "Environmental justice" means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all |
10 | people regardless of race, color, national origin, English language proficiency, or income with |
11 | respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, |
12 | and policies. |
13 | (9)(10) "Existing renewable energy resources" means generation units using eligible |
14 | renewable energy resources and first going into commercial operation before December 31, 1997. |
15 | (10)(11) "Generation attributes" means the nonprice characteristics of the electrical energy |
16 | output of a generation unit including, but not limited to, the unit's fuel type, emissions, vintage, and |
17 | policy eligibility. |
18 | (11)(12) "Generation unit" means a facility that converts a fuel or an energy resource into |
19 | electrical energy. |
20 | (12)(13) "High-heat medical waste processing facility" means a facility that: |
21 | (i) Generates electricity from the combustion, gasification, or pyrolysis of regulated |
22 | medical waste; |
23 | (ii) Generates electricity from the combustion of fuel derived from the gasification or |
24 | pyrolysis of regulated medical waste; or |
25 | (iii) Disposes of, processes, or treats regulated medical waste through combustion, |
26 | gasification, pyrolysis, or any process that exposes waste to temperatures above four hundred |
27 | degrees Fahrenheit (400ºF). |
28 | (14) "Interested parties" means persons or organizations that can affect, be affected by or |
29 | perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity and who have identified themselves to the |
30 | commission's clerk in writing within thirty (30) days of public notice of the docket set forth in § |
31 | 39-26-11(a) or within any reasonable extension of that time as determined by the commission. |
32 | Interested parties are not limited to those with intervenor status. |
33 | (13)(15) "NE-GIS" means the generation information system operated by NEPOOL, its |
34 | designee or successor entity, that includes a generation information database and certificate system, |
| LC003758/SUB A - Page 2 of 5 |
1 | and that accounts for the generation attributes of electrical energy consumed within NEPOOL. |
2 | (14)(16) "NE-GIS certificate" means an electronic record produced by the NE-GIS that |
3 | identifies the relevant generation attributes of each megawatt-hour accounted for in the NE-GIS. |
4 | (15)(17) "NEPOOL" means the New England Power Pool or its successor. |
5 | (16)(18) "New renewable energy resources" means generation units using eligible |
6 | renewable energy resources and first going into commercial operation after December 31, 1997; or |
7 | the incremental output of generation units using eligible renewable energy resources that have |
8 | demonstrably increased generation in excess of ten percent (10%) using eligible renewable energy |
9 | resources through capital investments made after December 31, 1997; but in no case involve any |
10 | new impoundment or diversion of water with an average salinity of twenty (20) parts per thousand |
11 | or less. |
12 | (17)(19) "Obligated entity" means a person or entity who or that sells electrical energy to |
13 | end-use customers in Rhode Island, including, but not limited to: nonregulated power producers |
14 | and electric utility distribution companies, as defined in § 39-1-2, supplying standard-offer service, |
15 | last-resort service, or any successor service to end-use customers, including Narragansett Electric, |
16 | but not to include Block Island Power Company as described in § 39-26-7 or Pascoag Utility |
17 | District. |
18 | (18)(20) "Off-grid generation facility" means a generation unit that is not connected to a |
19 | utility transmission or distribution system. |
20 | (21) "Reliable source of revenue" means a revenue source for a given project's output |
21 | products that is likely to exist over the useful life of a given project. |
22 | (19)(22) "Renewable energy resource" means any one or more of the renewable energy |
23 | resources described in § 39-26-5(a). |
24 | (20)(23) "Reserved certificate" means a NE-GIS certificate sold independent of a |
25 | transaction involving electrical energy, pursuant to Rule 3.4 or a successor rule of the operating |
26 | rules of the NE-GIS. |
27 | (21)(24) "Reserved certificate account" means a specially designated account established |
28 | by an obligated entity, pursuant to Rule 3.4 or a successor rule of the operating rules of the NE- |
29 | GIS, for transfer and retirement of reserved certificates from the NE-GIS. |
30 | (22)(25) "Self-generator" means an end-use customer in Rhode Island that displaces all or |
31 | part of its retail electricity consumption, as metered by the distribution utility to which it |
32 | interconnects, through the use of a customer-sited generation facility, and the ownership of any |
33 | such facility shall not be considered an obligated entity as a result of any such ownership |
34 | arrangement. |
| LC003758/SUB A - Page 3 of 5 |
1 | (23)(26) "Small hydro facility" means a facility employing one or more hydroelectric |
2 | turbine generators and with an aggregate capacity not exceeding thirty megawatts (30 MW). For |
3 | purposes of this definition, "facility" shall be defined in a manner consistent with Title 18 of the |
4 | Code of Federal Regulations, section 292.204; provided, however, that the size of the facility is |
5 | limited to thirty megawatts (30 MW), rather than eighty megawatts (80 MW). |
6 | SECTION 2. Chapter 39-26 of the General Laws entitled "Renewable Energy Standard" is |
7 | hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: |
8 | 39-26-11. Analysis of solar energy development. |
9 | (a) In light of the changing solar energy market and chapter 6.2 of title 42 (the "act on |
10 | climate"), and no later than sixty (60) days after passage of this section, the commission shall |
11 | establish a docket to review and analyze solar energy development in Rhode Island. |
12 | (b) The commission review and analysis conducted pursuant to this chapter shall include, |
13 | but not be limited to: |
14 | (1) Comparing and contrasting the various solar energy development programs offered |
15 | through the electric distribution company’s tariffs, excluding Block Island Utility District and |
16 | Pascoag Utility District, performing a cost-benefit analysis of investment in a range of solar project |
17 | types and conducting an analysis of the different allocation of costs and benefits to participants and |
18 | non-participants caused by increased investment in the project types from the programs offered |
19 | through the electric distribution company’s tariffs; |
20 | (2) Including and factoring into consideration, in addition to direct costs and benefits, |
21 | environmental costs and benefits, and other indirect and ancillary costs and benefits for each solar |
22 | energy development project type; |
23 | (3) Including and factoring into consideration impacts on health, jobs, land use, |
24 | environmental justice, electric service reliability and affordable consumer rates; |
25 | (4) Including and factoring into consideration federal, state, local and other renewable |
26 | investment tax credits, incentives and grants available for these projects; |
27 | (5) Including and factoring into consideration interconnection costs, the commission |
28 | approved community solar ceiling prices for the 2020 and 2021 renewable energy growth program |
29 | years, historic net metering rates between 2019 and 2021, other relevant rates, and the project |
30 | subscriber process as well as the programmatic rules and cost differences; and |
31 | (6) Addressing the developers' need for a reliable source of revenue which provides a |
32 | reasonable foundation for financing their projects against the need to assure that ratepayers are not |
33 | paying more than necessary to achieve the targets set in the Renewable Energy Standard, chapter |
34 | 26 of title 39 (the "renewable energy standard"), including a range of electric load growth scenarios |
| LC003758/SUB A - Page 4 of 5 |
1 | that address the targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions set in the Act on Climate, chapter |
2 | 6.2 of title 42 (the "act on climate"). |
3 | (c) For each type of solar energy development program, the commission shall analyze: |
4 | (1)Whether expansion of each program encourages investment in solar projects where the |
5 | benefits exceed the costs; and |
6 | (2) Whether sustainability and stability of each program can be maintained without |
7 | unreasonable burden to ratepayers. |
8 | (d) Taking subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section into consideration, in its report on |
9 | the review and analysis, the commission shall make a reasoned recommendation of which solar |
10 | energy development program or programs, combination of programs or new programs is or are the |
11 | most reasonable and effective means of procuring the best value for solar resources at the overall |
12 | best rate to Rhode Island ratepayers through 2030. |
13 | (e) Prior to the draft report and recommendations, the commission shall provide for at least |
14 | three (3) public meetings through an informal process that provides for meaningful public |
15 | engagement. |
16 | (f) The commission shall provide a minimum of thirty (30) days for public comment on |
17 | the report and host at least one technical working session for interested parties to comment on the |
18 | criteria listed above and other data utilized by the commission in making its recommendations. The |
19 | commission shall conduct an inclusive process that allows for meaningful public engagement and |
20 | publicly and financially accessible meetings and may hold other technical working sessions and/or |
21 | evidentiary hearings, as needed. |
22 | (g) The commission shall issue its report on Rhode Island's solar energy development |
23 | programs with its review, analysis and recommendations to the governor, the senate president and |
24 | the speaker of the house no later than December 1, 2023 or one year after the docket's establishment |
25 | date. |
26 | SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
======== | |
LC003758/SUB A | |
======== | |
| LC003758/SUB A - Page 5 of 5 |
EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- RENEWABLE ENERGY | |
STANDARD -- SOLAR ENERGY ANALYSIS | |
*** | |
1 | This act would require the public utilities commission to establish a docket to review and |
2 | analyze solar energy development in Rhode Island. |
3 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
======== | |
LC003758/SUB A | |
======== | |
| LC003758/SUB A - Page 6 of 5 |