3E Relating to energy

ARTICLE 1 - TRANSMISSION COMPANIES

Regulating electric transmission companies, defining transmission company; authorizing and providing for the public utilities commission to approve tariff mechanisms for the automatic adjustment of charges for the Minnesota jurisdictional costs of new transmission facilities separately filed and reviewed and approved by the PUC or certified as priority projects, authorizing public utilities to file annual rate adjustments to be applied to customer bills paid under approved tariffs, providing for PUC approval; authorizing public utility owners of transmission facilities to transfer control or ownership of assets to transmission companies subject to federal energy regulatory commission jurisdiction under certain conditions, providing for review and approval, authorizing transfers by municipal utilities upon governing body approval; modifying the definition of a large energy facility relating to high voltage transmission lines for certificate of need purposes and modifying certain requirements for PUC certification of high voltage transmission lines; requiring certificate of need application fees to be applied to the total costs of completion of the evaluation and authorizing the recovery of costs exceeding the application fee from the applicant; expanding high voltage transmission line project reporting requirements for PUC list development purposes and certain merger and consolidation restrictions to transmission companies; authorizing the PUC and the department of commerce to charge transmission companies for expenses incurred in the review and disposition of proceedings and for certain regulatory expenses; subjecting the companies to certain electric transmission line preventative maintenance requirements; requiring the legislative electric energy task force to convene a stakeholder group to explore the certification and routing of high voltage transmission lines for increased efficiency and effectiveness purposes, requiring a task force report to the legislature by a certain date

ARTICLE 2 - C BED AND RENEWABLE TRANSMISSION

Establishing a community based energy development tariff to optimize local, regional and state benefits from wind energy development and to facilitate development of community based wind energy projects throughout the state, specifying certain tariff rate requirements and providing for public utilities commission approval; creating a priority for C-BED projects for renewable energy objectives purposes and providing for property owner participation; providing for the negotiation and development of certain agreements or joint venture projects, specifying certain PUC approval requirements; expanding the authority of the PUC to approve or disapprove power purchase contracts, investments or
expenditures relating to the renewable energy objectives and temporarily requiring the PUC certification of priority electric transmission projects meeting renewable energy objectives; exempting certain wind energy conversion systems from certificate of need requirements; requiring the commissioner of commerce to encourage cost effective renewable energy developments and to compile and maintain information relating to existing and potential renewable energy developments and resources for determination of need for large energy facilities and for review of utility integrated resource plans, requiring electric utilities adding generation to supply portfolios to provide the commissioner with a notice of intent; requiring the PUC to order electric utilities to participate in a statewide wind integration study

ARTICLE 3 - ROUTING AND SITING AUTHORITY TRANSFER

Transferring power plant siting and routing, wind energy conversion system and pipeline authority from the environmental quality board (EQB) to the public utilities commission with technical expertise and other assistance from the department of commerce; providing for participation by the commissioner of agriculture in routings and sitings under certain conditions; authorizing the PUC to adopt rules setting siting and routing application fees, requiring payment of the fees to the commissioner of commerce; modifying the requirement for joint hearings on siting and need during certificate of need application procedures; extending the time limit for approval or denial of certificates of need; transferring the position of reliability administrator for energy from the department of commerce to the PUC, modifying certain responsibilities and extending the duration of the position; specifying certain term change instructions to the revisor of statutes

ARTICLE 4 - ENERGY ASSISTANCE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS

Correcting statutory authority for energy assistance programs previously transferred between agencies; clarifying the treatment of data on individuals applying for benefits or services under energy assistance programs; eliminating certain obsolete language relating to oil overcharge money; correcting certain references under certain loan authority of the housing finance agency (HFA); recodifying certain energy assistance provisions

ARTICLE 5 - WOODY BIOMASS MANDATE PROJECT

Expanding the definition of farm grown closed loop biomass under the biomass power mandate to sustainably managed woody biomass, defining sustainably managed woody biomass; regulating a certain municipal waste to energy project, specifying certain requirements for the harvesting of woody biomass, requiring annual preparation of fuel plans and regulating the wood procurement process, requiring adoption by a certain date of guidelines or best management practices
for sustainably managed woody biomass by the department of natural resources (DNR) for management and maintenance of brushland and open land habitat and the by forest resources council for logging slash, partially exempting the project from certain farm grown closed loop biomass use requirements and encouraging the university of Minnesota initiative for renewable energy and the environment to solicit and fund high quality research projects to develop and consolidate scientific information relating to the removal of woody biomass from forest and brush lands; modifying certain conditions and the procedure for public utilities commission (PUC) approval of pending requests for biomass projects, specifying certain power purchase agreement requirements

ARTICLE 6 - E-FILING

Establishing the department of commerce e filing (e-filing) account to be used to establish an e-filing system allowing documents to be filed with the public utilities commission (PUC) and retrieved via the internet; requiring commissioner of commerce onetime assessments of regulated utilities, telephone companies and telecommunications carriers to cover implementation costs; requiring the system to be operational by a certain date

ARTICLE 7 - CIP TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS

Making technical modifications to certain energy conservation improvement program provisions; modifying the frequency requirement for filing by cities or cooperative electric associations with the commissioner of commerce overviews of conservation improvement plans

ARTICLE 8 - POWER QUALITY ZONES

Requiring the public utilities commission to ensure the consideration of opportunities for the installation of distributed generation in proceedings relating to renewable energy resource planning, the state transmission plan or large energy facility certificates of need; authorizing the public utilities commission upon joint petition of a public utility and customers within the service territory to establish power quality zones for installation of additional or upgraded components of the electric distribution infrastructure to decrease the risk of power outages, requiring utility and customer approval of the installation and the financial recovery plan before creation of the zones and specifying certain customer notice requirements; authorizing the collection of tariffs and surcharges from customers in the zones to pay installation costs

ARTICLE 9 - BIOGAS INCENTIVE PAYMENTS

Expanding the definition of qualified on farm biogas recovery facility under the renewable energy production incentive

ARTICLE 10 - GAS INFRASTRUCTURE COST

Providing for temporary recovery of certain infrastructure replacement costs separate from a general rate increase by gas utilities, defining gas utility; authorizing the public utilities commission to approve gas utility petitions for rate schedules to recover gas utility infrastructure costs, specifying certain filing requirements and authorizing PUC implementation and administration orders and rules; requiring the department of commerce to review the operation and impact of the GUIC recovery mechanism on ratepayers and utilities and report findings and recommendations to the legislature

ARTICLE 11 - EMINENT DOMAIN LANDOWNER COMPENSATION

Requiring the legislative electric energy task force to convene a landowner payments working group by a certain date to research alternative methods of remunerating owners of land with high voltage transmission lines constructed through eminent domain, specifying certain membership representation requirements and duties, limiting working group expenses for reimbursement purposes and requiring a report to the task force by a certain date

ARTICLE 12 - TECHNICAL CORRECTION

Providing for the adjustment of power purchase agreements to reflect production tax payments

ARTICLE 13 - HYDROGEN

Requiring the department of administration to identify opportunities for demonstrating the use of hydrogen fuel cells within state owned facilities, vehicle fleets and operations and specifying certain purchase and demonstration requirements in furtherance of certain objectives; requiring and providing for periodic department of commerce reports to the legislature on proposed pilot projects contributing to the realization of the state hydrogen economy goal, requiring the department to consider certain priorities in developing the proposed slate of pilot projects and the projects to meet certain criteria; authorizing the commissioner of commerce to accept and expend federal funds and participate in projects to design, site and construct multifuel hydrogen fueling stations linking urban centers along key trade corridors across certain jurisdictions, specifying certain requirements of the stations; requiring public research and higher education institutions to work together and with similar institutions in the region to establish an upper midwest energy research and education partnership, requiring the partnership to include an advisory committee to help focus research and education efforts on the most critical issues; requiring commissioner assessments through the reliability administrator to match federal and private investments in multifuel hydrogen refueling stations in Moorhead, Alexandria and the Twin Cities, limit; encouraging the board of trustees of the Minnesota state colleges and universities (MnSCU) to work with the upper Midwest hydrogen initiative and others to develop and implement hydrogen and fuel cell curricula and training programs for incorporation into existing courses and disciplines affected by the technologies

ARTICLE 14 - SOY DIESEL

Allocating money to the agricultural utilization research institute for grants to certain eligible applicants for projects using soy diesel generators to provide backup power for certain smaller wind energy conversion systems, requiring distribution of the grants over a certain number of years, defining soy diesel

ARTICLE 15 - BIODIESEL FUEL FOR HOME HEATING

Requiring the reliability administrator in the department of commerce to perform a comprehensive technical and economic analysis of the benefits of using biodiesel fuel or biodiesel fuel blends as a home heating fuel and report the results to the legislature by a certain date

ARTICLE 16 - CITY OF ALEXANDRIA JOINT VENTURE AUTHORITY

Expanding the joint venture authority of the city of Alexandria for certain
telecommunications services purposes to the Gardonville telephone cooperative
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