HF 1781

as introduced - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to energy; regulating eligibility for grants
from the renewable development fund; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 216B.1694,
subdivision 2.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 216B.1694,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Regulatory incentives.

(a) An innovative energy
project:

(1) is exempted from the requirements for a certificate of
need under section 216B.243, for the generation facilities, and
transmission infrastructure associated with the generation
facilities, but is subject to all applicable environmental
review and permitting procedures of sections 116C.51 to 116C.69;

(2) once permitted and constructed, is eligible to increase
the capacity of the associated transmission facilities without
additional state review upon filing notice with the commission;

(3) has the power of eminent domain, which shall be limited
to the sites and routes approved by the Environmental Quality
Board for the project facilities. The project shall be
considered a utility as defined in section 116C.52, subdivision
10, for the limited purpose of section 116C.63. The project
shall report any intent to exercise eminent domain authority to
the board;

(4) shall qualify as a "clean energy technology" as defined
in section 216B.1693;

(5) shall, prior to the approval by the commission of any
arrangement to build or expand a fossil-fuel-fired generation
facility, or to enter into an agreement to purchase capacity or
energy from such a facility for a term exceeding five years, be
considered as a supply option for the generation facility, and
the commission shall ensure such consideration and take any
action with respect to such supply proposal that it deems to be
in the best interest of ratepayers;

(6) shall make a good faith effort to secure funding from
the United States Department of Energy and the United States
Department of Agriculture to conduct a demonstration project at
the facility for either geologic or terrestrial carbon
sequestration projects to achieve reductions in facility
emissions or carbon dioxide; new text begin and
new text end

(7) shall be entitled to enter into a contract with a
public utility that owns a nuclear generation facility in the
state to provide 450 megawatts of baseload capacity and energy
under a long-term contract, subject to the approval of the terms
and conditions of the contract by the commission. The
commission may approve, disapprove, amend, or modify the
contract in making its public interest determination, taking
into consideration the project's economic development benefits
to the state; the use of abundant domestic fuel sources; the
stability of the price of the output from the project; the
project's potential to contribute to a transition to hydrogen as
a fuel resource; and the emission reductions achieved compared
to other solid fuel baseload technologies deleted text begin ; and
deleted text end

deleted text begin (8) shall be eligible for a grant from the renewable
development account, subject to the approval of the entity
administering that account, of $2,000,000 a year for five years
for development and engineering costs, including those costs
related to mercury-removal technology; thermal efficiency
optimization and emission minimization; environmental impact
statement preparation and licensing; development of hydrogen
production capabilities; and fuel cell development and
utilization deleted text end .

(b) This subdivision does not apply to nor affect a
proposal to add utility-owned resources that is pending on May
29, 2003, before the Public Utilities Commission or to
competitive bid solicitations to provide capacity or energy that
is scheduled to be on line by December 31, 2006.

Sec. 2. new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE.
new text end

new text begin Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment
and is retroactive to May 30, 2003. Any grant approved by the
Public Utilities Commission under authority of Minnesota
Statutes 2004, section 216B.1694, subdivision 2, clause (8), is
revoked and cancelled and no funds may be disbursed from the
account for the grant.
new text end