Bill Text: NH HB311 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relative to solar renewable energy.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-10-03 - House Interim Study - Subcommittee Work Session: 10/4/2012 3:30 PM Legislative Office Building 304 [HB311 Detail]
Download: New_Hampshire-2012-HB311-Introduced.html
HB 311-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2011 SESSION
09/10
HOUSE BILL 311-FN
AN ACT relative to solar renewable energy.
SPONSORS: Rep. Holden, Hills 4; Rep. Cali-Pitts, Rock 16; Sen. Merrill, Dist 21
COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy
This bill revises certain laws relative to solar renewable energy.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
11-0743
09/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven
AN ACT relative to solar renewable energy.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Findings.
I. The general court finds that solar generation of electricity coincides closely with peak electricity demand that occurs on hot summer afternoons in New Hampshire when the cooling load is greatest. New Hampshire’s peak demand has been increasing and is projected to grow faster than overall energy consumption. Installations of solar generation facilities dampen peak demand when used for self generation by electric customers and may provide valuable additional generation capacity to the system at the time of peak demand. This should result in reduced peak demand transmission charges to all ratepayers and help avoid costly new generation investments to meet peak demand.
II. The general court also finds that the installation of disbursed solar generation facilities that are interconnected with local distribution systems lowers the localized peak demand on such systems, thereby reducing the need for additional investments in distribution systems that are paid for by all ratepayers.
2 Minimum Electric Renewable Portfolio Standards. Amend RSA 362-F:3 to read as follows:
362-F:3 Minimum Electric Renewable Portfolio Standards.
I. For each year specified in the table below, each provider of electricity shall, with respect to the class I, III, and IV requirements, obtain and retire certificates sufficient in number and class type to meet or exceed the following percentages of total megawatt-hours of electricity supplied by the provider to its end-use customers that year, except to the extent that the provider makes payments to the renewable energy fund under RSA 362-F:10, II:
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2025
Class I 0.0% 0.5% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 16% (*)
Class II 0.0% 0.0% 0.04% 0.08% 0.15% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3%
Class III 3.5% 4.5% 5.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5%
Class IV 0.5% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
* Class I increases an additional one percent per year from 2015 through 2025. Classes II-IV remain at the same percentages from 2015 through 2025 except as provided in RSA 362-F:4, V and VI.
II. For each year specified in the table above, each distribution company that is not a municipal utility shall, with respect to the class II requirements, obtain and retire certificates sufficient in number and class type to meet or exceed the percentages of total megawatt-hours of electricity distributed by the distribution company to its customers that year, except to the extent that the distribution company makes payments to the renewable energy fund under RSA 362-F:10, II. Recovery of costs associated with the requirements of this paragraph shall be allowed through each company’s distribution rates.
3 Class II Renewable Energy. Amend RSA 362-F:4, II to read as follows:
II. Class II (New Solar) shall include the production of electricity from solar technologies, provided the source began operation after January 1, 2006 and is interconnected with an electric distribution system located in New Hampshire.
4 New Section; Multi-Year Class II Certificate Purchase Agreements. Amend RSA 362-F by inserting after section 9 the following new section:
362-F:9-a Multi-year Class II Certificate Purchase Agreements.
I. The commission shall establish a competitive procurement process that distribution companies may use to enter into multi-year agreements, without commission approval, for the purchase of class II certificates. The commission shall establish standards and conditions for entering into such agreements including, but not limited to, the term of the agreements, qualification criteria for sources and providers of certificates, the portion of certificate needs to be acquired through this process, and a method for determining an upper limit on the price of certificates. The upper limit determination may not exceed the alternative payment amount in effect, as established under RSA 362-F:10, at the time an agreement is entered and as adjusted under RSA 362-F:10, III each year or, at the discretion of the commission, as projected to be adjusted under RSA 362-F:10, III.
II. The commission may establish a means by which source owners who generate too few class II certificates to realistically participate in a competitive procurement process are offered a multi-year agreement or a tariff for the purchase of such certificates by their distribution company. The purchase price shall not exceed the purchase price established through the most recent competitive procurement process undertaken by the distribution company under paragraph I.
5 Renewable Energy Certificates. Amend RSA 362-F:6, II to read as follows:
II. The commission shall establish procedures by which electricity production not tracked by ISO-New England from customer-sited sources, including behind the meter production, may be included within the certificate program, provided such sources are located in New Hampshire. The procedures may include the aggregation of sources and shall be compatible with procedures of the certificate program administrator, where possible. The production shall be monitored and verified by an independent entity designated by the commission, which may include electric distribution companies, or by such other means as the commission finds adequate in verifying that such production is occurring. The commission may also establish a methodology for estimating production from customer-sited sources for which certificates are not issued and giving credit for such production in certificate equivalents, in an equitable manner, to those required to obtain and retire certificates under RSA 362-F:3.
6 Sale, Exchange, and Use of Certificates. Amend RSA 362-F:7, I to read as follows:
I. A certificate may be sold or otherwise exchanged by the source to which it was initially issued or by any other person or entity that acquires the certificate. A certificate may only be used once for compliance with the requirements of this chapter. It may not be used for compliance with this chapter if it has been or will be used for compliance with any similar requirements of another non-federal jurisdiction, or otherwise sold, retired, claimed, or represented as part of any other electrical energy output or sale. Certificates shall only be used by providers of electricity or distribution companies for compliance with the requirements of RSA 362-F:3 in the year in which the generation represented by the certificate was produced, except that unused certificates of the proper class issued for production during the prior 2 years or the first quarter of the subsequent year may be used to meet up to 30 percent of a provider’s or distribution company’s requirements for a given class obligation in the current year of compliance.
7 Information Collection. Amend RSA 362-F:8 to read as follows
362-F:8 Information Collection. By July 1 of each year, each provider of electricity and distribution company shall submit a report to the commission, in a form approved by the commission, documenting its compliance with the requirements of this chapter for the prior year. The commission may investigate compliance and collect any information necessary to verify and audit the information provided to the commission by providers of electricity or distribution company.
8 Renewable Energy Fund; Payments. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 362-F:10, II to read as follows:
II. In lieu of meeting the portfolio requirements of RSA 362-F:3 for a given year if, and to the extent sufficient certificates are not otherwise available at a price below the amounts specified in this paragraph, an electricity provider or a distribution company may, at the time of report submission for that year under RSA 362-F:8, make payment to the commission at the following rates for each megawatt-hour not met for a given class obligation through the acquisition of certificates:
9 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2012.
LBAO
11-0743
Revised 03/09/11
HB 311 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to solar renewable energy.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Public Utilities Commission states this bill will have an indeterminable fiscal impact on state restricted revenues, and state, county, and local expenditures in FY 2012 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local revenues.
METHODOLOGY:
This bill revises certain laws relative to the production of solar renewable energy. The Public Utilities Commission states the proposed legislation amends the Renewable Portfolio Standard Program. The Commission notes, the program requires electricity providers to acquire a certain number of renewable energy certificates each year or make alternative compliance payments to the renewable energy fund. The Commission states the costs incurred by the electric providers and ultimately the ratepayers for compliance is determined by the price for these renewable energy credits and alternative compliance payments which are in turn driven by supply and demand. The Commission states the proposed legislation would amend the current statute in one way that will tend to decrease the supply of renewable energy credits, and in several other ways that will tend to increase the supply of renewable energy credits. The Commission states the proposed legislation’s impact on the supply of renewable energy credits will have a fiscal impact on state restricted revenues to the extent that the change in supply affects the revenue to the renewable energy fund. The Commission also states the proposed legislation will ultimately impact electric rates, and to that extent, will have a fiscal impact on state, county, and local expenditures. However, the Commission states they are unable to estimate to what extent, either positive or negative, state restricted revenues or state, county, and local expenditures will be impacted due to a variety of variables in place and the number of assumptions the Commission would have to make.
