2003 Minnesota Statutes

     216B.1645 Power purchase contract or investment. 

    Subdivision 1.    Commission authority.  Upon the 
 petition of a public utility, the Public Utilities Commission 
 shall approve or disapprove power purchase contracts, 
 investments, or expenditures entered into or made by the utility 
 to satisfy the wind and biomass mandates contained in sections 
 216B.169, 216B.2423, and 216B.2424, including reasonable 
 investments and expenditures made to transmit the electricity 
 generated from sources developed under those sections that is 
 ultimately used to provide service to the utility's retail 
 customers, or to develop renewable energy sources from the 
 account required in section 116C.779.  

    Subd. 2.    Cost recovery.  The expenses incurred by the 
 utility over the duration of the approved contract or useful 
 life of the investment and expenditures made pursuant to section 
 116C.779 shall be recoverable from the ratepayers of the 
 utility, to the extent they are not offset by utility revenues 
 attributable to the contracts, investments, or expenditures.  
 Upon petition by a public utility, the commission shall approve 
 or approve as modified a rate schedule providing for the 
 automatic adjustment of charges to recover the expenses or costs 
 approved by the commission, which, in the case of transmission 
 expenditures, are limited to the portion of actual transmission 
 costs that are directly allocable to the need to transmit power 
 from the renewable sources of energy.  The commission may not 
 approve recovery of the costs for that portion of the power 
 generated from sources governed by this section that the utility 
 sells into the wholesale market.  

    Subd. 3.    Applicability to recovery of other costs.  
 Nothing in this section shall be construed to determine the 
 manner or extent to which revenues derived from other generation 
 facilities of the utility may be considered in determining the 
 recovery of the approved cost or expenses associated with the 
 mandated contracts, investments, or expenditures in the event 
 there is retail competition for electric energy. 

    Subd. 4.    Settlement with Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal 
 Council at Prairie Island.  The commission shall approve a 
 rate schedule providing for the automatic adjustment of charges 
 to recover the costs or expenses of a settlement between the 
 public utility that owns the Prairie Island nuclear generation 
 facility and the Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Council at Prairie 
 Island, resolving outstanding disputes regarding the provisions 
 of Laws 1994, chapter 641, article 1, section 4.  The settlement 
 must provide for annual payments, not to exceed $2,500,000 
 annually, by the public utility to the Prairie Island Indian 
 Community, to be used for, among other purposes, acquiring up to 
 1,500 contiguous or noncontiguous acres of land in Minnesota 
 within 50 miles of the tribal community's reservation at Prairie 
 Island to be taken into trust by the federal government for the 
 benefit of the tribal community for housing and other 
 residential purposes.  The legislature acknowledges that the 
 intent to purchase land by the tribe for relocation purposes is 
 part of the settlement agreement and Laws 2003, First Special 
 Session chapter 11.  However, the state, through the governor, 
 reserves the right to support or oppose any particular 
 application to place land in trust status. 

    HIST: 1997 c 176 s 1; 1998 c 345 s 1; 1999 c 200 s 2; 2001 c 
 212 art 8 s 1; 1Sp2003 c 11 art 1 s 3