1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to energy; authorizing construction and operation of a natural gas combined 
1.3 	cycle electric generation plant.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. NATURAL GAS COMBINED CYCLE ELECTRIC GENERATION 
1.6 	PLANT.
 1.7 	(a) Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 216B.243 and Minnesota Statutes, 
1.8 	chapter 216E, a public utility may, at its sole discretion, construct, own, and operate a natural 
1.9 	gas combined cycle electric generation plant as the utility proposed to the Public Utilities 
1.10 	Commission in docket number E-002/RP-15-21, or as revised by the utility and approved 
1.11 	by the Public Utilities Commission in the latest resource plan filed after the effective date 
1.12 	of this section, provided that the plant is located on property in Sherburne County, Minnesota, 
1.13 	already owned by the public utility, and will be constructed after January 1, 2018.
1.14 	(b) Reasonable and prudently incurred costs and investments by a public utility under 
1.15 	this section may be recovered pursuant to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes, section 
1.16 	216B.16.
1.17 	(c) No less than 20 months prior to the start of construction, a public utility intending 
1.18 	to construct a plant under this section shall file with the commission an evaluation of the 
1.19 	utility's forecasted costs prepared by an independent evaluator and may ask the commission 
1.20 	to establish a sliding scale rate of return mechanism for this capital investment to provide 
1.21 	an incentive for the utility to complete the project at or under the forecasted costs.