023-3 Wyo. Code R. §§ 3-35 - Arrangements between Electric Utilities and Qualifying Cogeneration and Small Power Production Facilities

All electric utilities shall fully comply with this section; sections 201 and 210 of the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, PL 95-617 (PURPA) and Part 292, 18 CFR Ch. I (4-1-13 edition).

(a) Filing of purchase, sale rates and contracts.

(i) All regulations, tariffs and contracts governing sales and purchases between qualifying facilities and utilities shall be filed with the Commission.

(ii) Nothing in these Rules:

(A) Limits any utility and qualifying facility from entering into a contract relating to any purchase or sale; or

(B) Affects the validity of any existing contract between any utility and qualifying facility for any purchase or sale.

(b) Any utility with sales other than resale greater than 500 million kilowatt- hours during any calendar year and legally obligated to obtain all its energy and capacity requirements from another entity shall provide, upon request, system cost data of the utility's supplying entity, including the rates at which the utility currently purchases such energy and capacity. If any utility fails to provide such information on request, the qualifying facility may apply to the Commission for an order requiring that the information be provided.

(c) Unless exempted under Paragraph (iii) of this Subsection, each electric utility shall file for approval by the Commission a method for determination of avoided costs, after public notice and opportunity for hearing.

(i) System cost data from which avoided costs may be derived shall be filed with the Commission not less than every two years or as otherwise ordered. The filing shall contain:

(A) The estimated avoided energy cost stated in blocks of not more than 100 megawatts for systems with peak demand of 1,000 megawatts or more, and in blocks equivalent to not more than 10% of the system peak demand for systems of less than 1000 megawatts. The avoided costs shall be stated on a cents per kilowatt-hour basis, during daily and seasonal peak and off-peak periods for each of the next five years;

(B) The utility's plan for the additions, acquisitions and retirements of capacity and energy by amount and source, for each of the next 10 years; and

(C) The estimated capacity costs at completion of the planned capacity additions and planned capacity firm purchases, expressed in dollars per kilowatt, and the associated energy costs of each unit, expressed in cents per kilowatt-hour. These costs shall be itemized by generating units and planned firm purchases.

(ii) The following factors shall be considered when determining avoided costs:

(A) The utility's resource needs, as set forth in its long range planning process;

(B) The availability of capacity or energy from a qualifying facility during the system daily and seasonal peak periods, including:

(I) The ability of the utility to dispatch the qualifying facility;

(II) The expected or demonstrated reliability of the qualifying facility;

(III) The terms of any legally enforceable obligation, including the duration of the obligation, termination notice requirement and sanctions for non-compliance;

(IV) The extent to which scheduled outages of the qualifying facility can be coordinated with scheduled outages of the utility's facilities;

(V) The usefulness of energy and capacity supplied from a qualifying facility during system emergencies, including its ability to separate its load from its generation;

(VI) The individual and aggregate value of energy and capacity from qualifying facilities on the utility's system;

(VII) The capacity increments and the lead times available with addition of capacity from qualifying facilities;

(VIII) The ability of the utility to avoid costs; and

(IX) The costs or savings resulting from variations in line losses, if measurable, from those that would exist in the absence of purchases from a qualifying facility.

(iii) A cooperative that is an all-requirements power supply customer of a generation and transmission cooperative or other wholesale power supplier shall inform the Commission of a change to its avoided cost rate at least 30 days before the effective date of such change, or within 15 days of the cooperative's receipt of notice if less than 45 days' notice is provided to the cooperative, by filing a copy thereof and a revised rate sheet indicating the cooperative's revised avoided cost rate and its effective date. Cooperatives complying with this paragraph shall not be required to file an application for approval unless ordered to do so by the Commission.

(d) Utility purchase and sale obligations.

(i) Each utility shall sell to any qualifying facility any energy and capacity requested by the qualifying facility at the applicable tariff rates.

(ii) Each utility shall make interconnections with any qualifying facility as necessary to accomplish purchases or sales under these Rules. The obligation to pay for any interconnection costs shall be determined in accordance with subsection (l) below.

(e) Rates for purchases. For purposes of this subsection, "new capacity" means any purchase of capacity from a qualifying facility for which construction was commenced on or after November 9, 1978.

(i) Purchase rates shall be just and reasonable to the electric consumer and in the public interest. A purchase rate for purchases of new capacity satisfies the requirements if the rate equals the avoided costs determined after consideration of the factors set forth in subsection (c)(ii) above.

(ii) Nothing in this subsection requires any electric utility to pay more than the avoided costs for purchases.

(iii) The relationship to avoided costs shall be:

(A) A purchase rate (other than from new capacity) may be less than the avoided cost if the Commission determines that a lower rate is consistent with this subsection and is sufficient to encourage cogeneration and small power production.

(B) If rates for purchases are based upon estimates of avoided costs over a specific term of a contract or other legally enforceable obligation, the rates do not violate this subsection if the rates differ from avoided costs at the time of delivery.

(f) Standard rates for purchases.

(i) Each utility shall have standard rates for purchases from qualifying facilities with a design capacity of 100 kilowatts or less.

(ii) There may be standard rates for purchases from qualifying facilities with a design capacity of more than 100 kilowatts.

(iii) The standard rates for purchases under this subsection:

(A) Shall be consistent with subsections (e) and (c)(ii); and

(B) May differentiate among qualifying facilities using various technologies on the basis of the supply characteristics.

(g) Each qualifying facility shall provide:

(i) Energy as the qualifying facility determines it to be available for purchase, in which case the rates for the purchases shall be based on the purchasing utility's avoided costs calculated at the time of delivery; or

(ii) Energy only or energy and capacity pursuant to a legally enforceable obligation for the delivery of energy or capacity over a specified term, in which case the rates for such purchases shall, at the option of the qualifying facility exercised prior to the beginning of the specified term, be based on either:

(A) The avoided costs calculated at the time of delivery; or

(B) The projected avoided costs calculated at the time the obligation is incurred.

(h) Procedures for periods during which purchases are not required.

(i) Any utility which gives notice pursuant to subsection (h)(ii) will not be required to purchase energy or capacity during any period in which, due to operational circumstances, purchases from qualifying facilities will result in costs greater than those the utility would incur if it generated an equivalent amount of energy itself.

(ii) Any utility seeking to invoke subsection (h)(i) shall provide adequate notice to cogenerators and qualifying facilities in order to allow time for their operational response. Any utility failing to do so will be required to pay the equivalent purchase of energy or capacity as would have been required had the period described in subsection (h)(i) not occurred.

(iii) The utility shall advise the Commission in advance or as soon thereafter as practicable after the event occurred.

(iv) The utility shall file with the Commission a power cost financial impact analysis within 60 days of the end of the event.

(j) Additional services shall be provided to qualifying facilities pursuant to the electric utility's applicable tariffs:

(i) Upon request of a qualifying facility, each utility shall provide:

(A) Supplementary power;

(B) Back-up power;

(C) Maintenance power; and

(D) Interruptible power.

(ii) The Commission may waive any requirement of subsection (j)(i) if, after notice and opportunity for hearing, the Commission finds that compliance with such requirement will:

(A) Impair the utility's ability to render adequate service to its customers; or

(B) Place an undue burden on the utility.

(k) The rate for sales of back-up power or maintenance power shall:

(i) Not be based upon an assumption (unless supported by factual data) that forced outages or other reductions in electric output by all qualifying facilities on a utility's system will occur simultaneously and/or during the system peak; and

(ii) Take into account the extent to which scheduled outages of the qualifying facilities can be usefully coordinated with scheduled outages of the utility's facilities.

(l) Interconnection costs.

(i) Each qualifying facility shall be obligated to pay any interconnection costs which the Commission authorizes the utility to collect from the facility, under the utility's interconnection tariff, on a nondiscriminatory basis; and

(ii) Any reimbursement by the utility to the qualifying facility will be made in accordance with the utility's interconnection tariff.

(m) A qualifying facility shall be required to provide energy or capacity to a utility during a system emergency only to the extent:

(i) Provided by agreement between such qualifying facility and utility;

(ii) Ordered by the Commission; or

(iii) Ordered under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act.

(n) During any system emergency, a utility may discontinue purchases and sales when:

(i) Purchases from a qualifying facility would contribute to such emergency; and

(ii) Sales to a qualifying facility are on a nondiscriminatory basis.

(o) Each utility shall promulgate rules and regulations for the interconnection of qualified facilities that address:

(i) Avoidance of unintentional continued energization of a circuit when the utility source of energy to the circuit has been disconnected, when a fault occurs on the utility circuit and when one phase of a three-phase line is lost to the interconnection;

(ii) Instantaneous (flicker) and long-term voltage regulation;

(iii) Frequency stability, harmonic suppression (wave form) and synchronization of units to the utility system;

(iv) The number, individual size and total capacity of units connected to a given circuit and the upgrading of circuits to accommodate more units;

(v) Reactive power requirements at each interconnection to a unit;

(vi) Circulating currents in delta-connected transformers;

(vii) Duplication of interconnection equipment;

(viii) Liability for damages to the utility system and equipment, to the facilities and equipment of the customers and to any other person who may be affected by the presence and operation of such units; and

(ix) The manner in which cost for accommodating such generation will be recovered.

Notes

023-3 Wyo. Code R. §§ 3-35

Adopted, Eff. 3/21/2016. Amended, Eff. 4/8/2019. Amended, Eff. 8/24/2020. Amended, Eff. 1/26/2021. Amended, Eff. 1/3/2022. Amended, Eff. 9/15/2022. Amended, Eff. 3/8/2023.