The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise:
Act-The Alternative Energy Portfolio
Standards Act (73 P.S. §
§
1648.1-1648.8), as amended by
66 Pa.C.S. §
2814
(relating to additional alternative energy sources).
Aggregator-A person or entity that
maintains a contract with multiple individual alternative energy system owners
to facilitate the sale of alternative energy credits on behalf of multiple
alternative energy system owners.
Alternative energy credit-A tradable
instrument that is used to establish, verify and monitor compliance with the
act. A unit of credit must equal 1 megawatt hour of electricity from an
alternative energy source. An alternative energy credit shall remain the
property of the alternative energy system until the alternative energy credit
is voluntarily transferred by the alternative energy system.
Alternative energy sources-The term
includes the following existing and new sources for the production of
electricity:
(i) Solar photovoltaic or
other solar electric energy.
(ii)
Solar thermal energy.
(iii) Wind
power.
(iv) Large-scale hydropower,
which means the production of electric power by harnessing the hydroelectric
potential of moving water impoundments, including pumped storage that does not
meet the requirements of low-impact hydropower.
(v) Low-impact hydropower consisting of any
technology that produces electric power and that harnesses the hydroelectric
potential of moving water impoundments if one of the following applies:
(A) The hydropower source has a Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensed capacity of 21 MW or less and was
issued its license by January 1, 1984, and was held on July 1, 2007, in whole
or in part, by a municipality located wholly within this Commonwealth or by an
electric cooperative incorporated in this Commonwealth.
(B) The incremental hydroelectric
development:
(I) Does not adversely change
existing impacts to aquatic systems.
(II) Meets the certification standards
established by the Low Impact Hydropower Institute and American Rivers, Inc.,
or their successors.
(III) Provides
an adequate water flow for protection of aquatic life and for safe and
effective fish passage.
(IV)
Protects against erosion.
(V)
Protects cultural and historic resources.
(VI) Was completed after the effective date
of the act.
(vi) Geothermal energy, which means
electricity produced by extracting hot water or steam from geothermal reserves
in the earth's crust and supplied to steam turbines that drive generators to
produce electricity.
(vii) Biomass
energy, which means the generation of electricity utilizing the following:
(A) Organic material from a plant that is
grown for the purpose of being used to produce electricity or is protected by
the Federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and provided further that crop
production on CRP lands does not prevent the achievement of the water quality
protection, soil erosion prevention or wildlife enhancement purposes for which
the land was primarily set aside.
(B) Solid nonhazardous, cellulosic waste
material that is segregated from other waste materials, such as waste pallets,
crates and landscape or right-of-way tree trimmings or agricultural sources,
including orchard tree crops, vineyards, grain, legumes, sugar and other
byproducts or residues.
(C)
Generation of electricity utilizing by-products of the pulping process and wood
manufacturing process, including bark, wood chips, sawdust and lignin in spent
pulping liquors from alternative energy systems located in this
Commonwealth.
(viii)
Biologically derived methane gas, which includes methane from the anaerobic
digestion of organic materials from yard waste, such as grass clippings and
leaves, food waste, animal waste and sewage sludge. The term also includes
landfill methane gas.
(ix) Fuel
cells, which means any electrochemical device that converts chemical energy in
a hydrogen-rich fuel directly into electricity, heat and water without
combustion.
(x) Waste coal, which
includes the combustion of waste coal in facilities in which the waste coal was
disposed or abandoned prior to July 31, 1982, or disposed of thereafter in a
permitted coal refuse disposal site regardless of when disposed of, and used to
generate electricity, or other waste coal combustion meeting alternate
eligibility requirements established by regulation. Facilities combusting waste
coal shall use at a minimum a combined fluidized bed boiler and be outfitted
with a limestone injection system and a fabric filter particulate removal
system. Alternative energy credits shall be calculated based upon the
proportion of waste coal utilized to produce electricity at the
facility.
(xi) Coal mine methane,
which means methane gas emitting from abandoned or working coal
mines.
(xii) Demand-side management
consisting of the management of customer consumption of electricity or the
demand for electricity through the implementation of:
(A) Energy efficient technologies, management
practices or other strategies in residential, commercial, industrial,
institutional and government customers that shift electric load from periods of
higher demand to periods of lower demand.
(B) Load management or demand response
technologies, management practices or other strategies in residential,
commercial, industrial, institutional and government customers that shift
electric load from periods of higher demand to periods of lower
demand.
(C) Industrial by-product
technologies consisting of the use of a by-product from an industrial process,
including reuse of energy from exhaust gases or other manufacturing by-products
that are used in the direct production of electricity at the facility of a
customer.
(xiii)
Distributed generation systems, which means the small-scale power generation of
electricity and useful thermal energy from systems with a nameplate capacity
not greater than 5 MW.
Alternative energy system-A facility or
energy system that uses a form of alternative energy source to generate
electricity and delivers the electricity it generates to the distribution
system of an EDC or to the transmission system operated by a regional
transmission organization.
Competitive transition charge-A
nonbypassable charge applied to the bill of every customer accessing the
transmission or distribution network which charge is designed to recover an
electric utility's transition or stranded costs.
Cost recovery period-The longer
of:
(i) The period during which
competitive transition charges under
66 Pa.C.S. §
2808
(relating to competitive transition charge) or intangible transition charges
under
66 Pa.C.S. §
2812
(relating to approval of transition bonds) are recovered.
(ii) The period during which an EDC operates
under a Commission-approved generation rate plan that has been approved prior
to or within 1 year of February 28, 2005, but the cost-recovery period under
the act may not extend beyond December 31, 2010.
Customer-generator-A retail electric
customer that is a nonutility owner or operator of a net metered distributed
generation system with a nameplate capacity of not greater than 50 kilowatts if
installed at a residential service or not larger than 3,000 kilowatts at other
customer service locations, except for customers whose systems are above 3
megawatts and up to 5 megawatts who make their systems available to operate in
parallel with the electric utility during grid emergencies as defined by the
regional transmission organization or where a microgrid is in place for the
primary or secondary purpose of maintaining critical infrastructure, such as
homeland security assignments, emergency services facilities, hospitals,
traffic signals, wastewater treatment plants or telecommunications facilities,
provided that technical rules for operating generators interconnected with
facilities of an EDC, electric cooperative or municipal electric system have
been promulgated by the institute of electrical and electronic engineers and
the Commission.
DSP-Default service provider-An EDC
within its certified service territory or an alternative supplier approved by
the Commission that provides generation service when one of the following
conditions occurs:
(i) A contract for
electric power, including energy and capacity, and the chosen EGS does not
supply the service to a retail electric customer.
(ii) A retail electric customer does not
choose an alternative EGS.
Department-The Department of
Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth.
EDC-Electric distribution company-The
public utility providing facilities for the jurisdictional transmission and
distribution of electricity to retail customers, except building or facility
owners/operators that manage the internal distribution system serving the
building or facility and that supply electric power and other related electric
power services to occupants of the building or facility.
EGS-Electric generation supplier-
(i) A person or corporation, including
municipal corporations which choose to provide service outside their municipal
limits except to the extent provided prior to December 16, 2006, brokers and
marketers, aggregators or any other entities, that sells to end-use customers
electricity or related services utilizing the jurisdictional transmission and
distribution facilities of an EDC or that purchases, brokers, arranges or
markets electricity or related services for sale to end-use customers utilizing
the jurisdictional transmission and distribution facilities of an
EDC.
(ii) The term excludes
building or facility owner/operators that manage the internal distribution
system serving the building or facility and that supply electric power and
other related power services to occupants of the building or
facility.
(iii) The term excludes
electric cooperative corporations except as provided in 15 Pa.C.S. Chapter 74
(relating to generation choice for customers of electric
cooperatives).
Force majeure-
(i) Upon its own initiative or upon a request
of an EDC or an EGS, the Commission, within 60 days, will determine if
alternative energy resources are reasonably available in the marketplace in
sufficient quantities for the EDCs and the EGSs to meet their obligations for
that reporting period under the act. In making this determination, the
Commission will consider whether EDCs or EGSs have made a good faith effort to
acquire sufficient alternative energy to comply with their obligations.
Evidence of good faith efforts include:
(A)
Banking alternative energy credits during transition periods.
(B) Seeking alternative energy credits
through competitive solicitations.
(C) Seeking to procure alternative energy
credits or alternative energy through long-term contracts.
(D) Other competent evidence the commission
credits as demonstrating a good faith effort.
(ii) In further making its determination, the
Commission will assess the availability of alternative energy credits in the
Generation Attributes Tracking System or its successor, and the availability of
alternative energy credits generally in this Commonwealth and other
jurisdictions in the PJM Interconnection, LLC regional transmission
organization or its successor. The Commission may also require solicitations
for alternative energy credits as part of default service before requests of
force majeure may be made.
(iii) If
the Commission determines that alternative energy resources are not reasonably
available in sufficient quantities in the marketplace for the EDCs and EGSs to
meet their obligations under the act, the Commission will modify the underlying
obligation of the EDC or EGS or recommend to the General Assembly that the
underlying obligation be eliminated. Commission modification of the EDC or EGS
obligations under the act will be for that compliance period only. Commission
modification may not automatically reduce the obligation for subsequent
compliance years.
(iv) If the
Commission modifies the EDC or EGS obligations under the act, the Commission
may require the EDC or EGS to acquire additional alternative energycredits in
subsequent years equivalent to the obligation reduced by a force majeure
declaration when the Commission determines that sufficient alternative energy
credits exist in the marketplace.
Grid emergencies-An emergency condition
as defined in the PJM Interconnection, LLC Open Access Transmission Tariff or
successor document.
kW-Kilowatt-A unit of power representing
1,000 watts. A kW equals 1/1000 of a MW.
MW-Megawatt-A unit of power representing
1,000,000 watts. An MW equals 1,000 kWs.
Microgrid-A system analogous to the term
distributed resources (DR) island system, when parts of the electric
distribution system have DR and critical infrastructure load in a combination
so as to give the EDC the ability to safely and intentionally disconnect that
section of the distribution system from the rest of the distribution system and
operate it as an island during emergency situations.
Moving water impoundment-A physical
feature that confines, restricts, diverts or channels the flow of surface
water, including in-stream hydroelectric generating technology and
equipment.
Municipal solid waste-The term includes
energy from existing waste to energy facilities which the Department has
determined are in compliance with current environmental standards, including
the applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C.A. §
§
7401-7671q) and associated permit
restrictions and the applicable requirements of the Solid Waste Management Act
(35
P.S. §
§
6018.101-6018.1003).
RTO-Regional transmission
organization-An entity approved by the FERC that is created to operate
and manage the electrical transmission grids of the member electric
transmission utilities as required under FERC Order 2000, Docket No.
RM99-2-000, FERC Chapter 31.089 (1999) or any successor organization approved
by the FERC.
Reporting period-The 12-month period
from June 1 through May 31. A reporting year shall be numbered according to the
calendar year in which it begins and ends.
Retail electric customer-
(i) A direct purchaser of electric
power.
(ii) The term excludes an
occupant of a building or facility where the following apply:
(A) The owners/operators manage the internal
distribution system serving the building or facility and supply electric power
and other related power services to occupants of the building or
facility.
(B) The owners/operators
are direct purchasers of electric power.
(C) The occupants are not direct
purchasers.
Stranded costs-An electric utility's
known and measurable net electric generation-related costs, determined on a net
present value basis over the life of the asset or liability as part of its
restructuring plan, which traditionally would be recoverable under a regulated
environment but which may not be recoverable in a competitive electric
generation market and which the Commission determines will remain following
mitigation by the electric utility.
Tier I alternative energy source-Energy
derived from:
(i) Solar photovoltaic
and solar thermal energy.
(ii) Wind
power.
(iii) Low-impact
hydropower.
(iv) Geothermal
energy.
(v) Biologically derived
methane gas.
(vi) Fuel
cells.
(vii) Biomass
energy.
(viii) Coal mine
methane.
Tier II alternative energy source-Energy
derived from:
(i) Waste
coal.
(ii) Distributed generation
systems.
(iii) Demand-side
management.
(iv) Large-scale
hydropower.
(v) Municipal solid
waste.
(vi) Generation of
electricity utilizing by-products of the pulping process and wood manufacturing
process, including bark, wood chips, sawdust and lignin in spent pulping
liquors from alternative energy systems located outside this
Commonwealth.
(vii) Integrated
combined coal gasification technology.
True-up period-The period each year from
the end of the reporting year until September 1.
Useful thermal energy-
(i) Thermal energy created from the
production of electricity which would otherwise be wasted if not used for other
nonelectric generation, beneficial purposes.
(ii) The term does not apply to the use of
thermal energy used in combined-cycle electric generation facilities.
Utility-
(i) A business, person or entity whose
primary purpose, character or nature is the generation, transmission,
distribution or sale of electricity at wholesale or retail.
(ii) The term excludes building or facility
owners or operators that manage the internal distribution system serving the
building or facility and that supply electric power and other related power
services to occupants of the building or facility.
