E Relating to energy, enacting the "Minnesota Energy Security and Reliability Act" ARTICLE 1 PUBLIC BUILDING ENERGY CONSERVATIONModifying the goal and eliminating the sunset of the state buildings energy conservation expenditures shared savings program; requiring the departments of administration and commerce to develop sustainable building design guidelines for new state buildings by a certain date, specifying certain guidelines requirements; requiring the department of administration to maintain information on energy use in public buildings to establish energy efficiency benchmarks and energy conservation goals, requiring a preliminary energy conservation goals report to the legislature by a certain date; requiring the department to development a comprehensive plan by a certain later date to maximize electrical and thermal energy efficiency in existing public buildings through conservation measures, specifying certain plan requirements ARTICLE 2 JOINT VENTURESAuthorizing and providing for municipal utilities to enter into joint ventures with other municipal utilities, municipal power agencies, cooperative associations or investor owned utilities to provide retail electric utility services within the boundaries of exclusive electric service territories under certain conditions, subjecting terms and conditions of the joint ventures to ratification by the governing bodies of the respective utilities and providing for organization, powers and duties; authorizing retail electric customers of the joint ventures to elect subjection to electric rate regulation by the public utilities commission (PUC) under certain conditions; providing for construction of the provisions, excepting the joint venture between the city of Willmar and Kandiyohi county from the provisions ARTICLE 3 MISCELLANEOUSRequiring and providing for electric utility filing of tariffs, schedules and agreements for interconnection and parallel operation of on site distributed generation; requiring the public utilities commission to initiate a proceeding to establish generic standards for the tariffs for distributed generation fueled by clean fuel or a combination of fuels of a certain limited interconnected capacity, specifying certain standards requirements, authorizing the PUC to develop financial incentives based on utility performance to encourage residential and small business customers to participate in on site generation; specifying certain public utility distributed generation tariff filing and municipal utility and cooperative electric association tariff adoption requirements, requiring certain reports to the commissioner of commerce and the maintenance of certain records and authorizing the PUC to order public utilities to make adequate infrastructure investments and undertake sufficient preventative maintenance relating to generation, transmission and distribution facilities; requiring the legislative electric energy task force to evaluate options and priorities relating to energy source development of resources derived from agricultural production and to energy options available in rural areasARTICLE 4 CONSUMER PROTECTIONModifying and clarifying the provisions regulating public utility cold weather disconnections; providing certain protections for residential customers of utilities and cooperative electric associations; requiring the offering of budget billing plans and certain payment agreements, authorizing the utilities and associations to establish terms and conditions for the plans and agreements; requiring reconnection or continuation of service to residences with medically necessary equipment; granting the public utilities commission the authority to resolve complaints involving violations; modifying certain PUC low income utility customer programs requirements ARTICLE 5 INCENTIVE PAYMENTS Extending the eligibility window for payments under the renewable energy production incentive program for qualified hydroelectric facilities and providing for the determination of the size and ownership of wind energy conversion systems for incentive payments eligibility purposes, specifying certain nameplate capacity combination requirements, authorizing facilities to regain the right to receive the payments after losing eligibility upon cure of the ownership structure ARTICLE 6 DISTRIBUTION RELIABILITYRequiring the public utilities commission (PUC), cooperative electric associations and municipal utilities to adopt standards for safety, reliability and service quality for distribution facilities, defining certain terms and specifying certain standards requirements; requiring the commissioner of commerce to provide an analysis of the costs and benefits of the standards to consumers and utilities to the legislature by a certain date ARTICLE 7 SITING AND ROUTING OF POWER PLANTS AND TRANSMISSION LINES Modifying the definition of high voltage transmission line and clarifying the definition of utility for environmental quality board power plant siting regulation purposes, prohibiting EQB review of certain projects authorized by the public utilities commission; modifying certain large electric generating plant site and high voltage transmission line route designation requirements, requiring permits from the EQB, requiring the EQB to incorporate into one proceeding the route selection for high voltage transmission lines directly associated with and necessary to interconnect the generating plant to the transmission system, requiring and providing for application for the permits to the board, specifying certain EQB environmental impact statement (EIS) preparation and public hearing requirements and expanding and modifying certain factors to be considered in designating sites and routes; regulating final decisions by the board; providing an alternative review procedure for applications for site or route permits and authorizing and providing for local in lieu of EQB review of applications for certain projects; authorizing and providing for board issuance of emergency permits for the construction of large generating plants or high voltage transmission lines due to major unforeseen events, requiring notice to the PUC of the unforeseen event and the need for immediate construction, requiring the EQB after notice and hearing to adopt rules specifying the criteria for emergency certification; expanding the agenda of the annual public hearing held by the board; providing for alternative expiration of advisory task forces appointed by the EQB; reducing the time limit for filing an appeal; modifying certain EQB rules adoption authority; modifying the definition of large energy facility for public utility resource planning and renewable energy purposes; requiring and providing for the PUC to develop and maintain a list of certified high voltage transmission line projects, specifying certain utility transmission projects reporting and PUC approval requirements, requiring the department of commerce to create, maintain and annually update an inventory of transmission lines, excluding transmission line proposals approved by or pending before a local government unit, the EQB or the PUC on a certain date, authorizing assessment of cooperative associations and municipal utilities for the proceedings; modifying certain large energy facility certificate of need requirements and expanding exemptions; requiring the commissioner of commerce to prepare a state energy planning report for submission to the legislature by a certain date, specifying certain report content and update requirements; repealing certain EQB large electric power generating plant study area inventory requirements, the generating plant or transmission line emergency certification procedure, certain route and site exemptions, a certain obsolete savings clause and a certain provision providing for the determination of large energy facility for certificate of need purposes by the primary fuel source ARTICLE 8 RENEWABLE ENERGY AND CONSERVATION Modifying the provision providing for public utilities commission approval of public utility power purchase contracts or investments and the recovery of expenses or costs; providing renewable and high efficiency energy rate options, requiring utilities to offer options allowing customers to determine the amount of electricity generated or purchased as renewable energy or energy generated by high efficiency low emissions distributed generation, defining high efficiency low emissions distributed generation and specifying certain implementation plan and rate requirements; requiring and providing for commissioner of commerce certification of power supplies and authorizing the PUC to establish a program for tradeable credits for eligible power supplies; requiring electric utilities to generate or procure sufficient electricity generated by eligible energy technologies, defining eligible energy technology and specifying an implementation schedule and certain utility reporting requirements; defining energy conservation and load management, redefining energy conservation improvement and modifying certain provisions under the conservation investment program; restricting expenditures for research and development projects to projects best implemented on a statewide basis; modifying certain requirements for cooperative electric associations and municipalities and authorized load management activities, specifying certain conservation improvement plans filing, overview and evaluation requirements; reducing the public utility annual investment requirement; authorizing the commissioner of public service to establish a list of programs allowed to be offered as energy conservation improvements and modifying the low income programs requirement; eliminating the burden of proof requirement for petitioners requesting modification or revocation of a department of public service decision by the PUC; authorizing the commissioner to order public utilities to include with the filing of proposed conservation improvement plans the results of independent audits of the programs and expenditures, specifying certain audit requirements; modifying certain commissioner of commerce public utility assessment requirements for operation and extending the expiration date of the legislative electric energy task force; establishing a temporary position of reliability administrator in the department of commerce to serve as a source of independent expertise and a technical advisor on issues relating to the reliability of the electric system, specifying certain duties; specifying certain cooperative electric association and municipal utility energy and capacity conservation programs evaluation and reporting requirements; phasing in required conservation improvement expenditures by cooperative electric associations; specifying certain utility or association distributed energy resources requirements; authorizing the PUC to temporarily provide an alternative recovery mechanism for the expense of continuing existing approved cost effective projects by rate regulated distribution cooperative electric associations; requiring the commissioner of commerce to study the conservation investment program and make change recommendations to the legislature by a certain date; extending a certain exemption from investment and expenditure requirements under certain conditions; requiring the department of commerce to report to the legislature by a certain date on the development of a universal energy service program to provide energy bill payment and conservation assistance to low and moderate income energy customers; requiring the commissioner to transfer a certain amount of money to the commissioner of administration to implement the sustainable building guidelines (ja)