2005 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, and to satisfy the renewable 
 energy objectives set forth in section 216B.1691, including 
 reasonable investments and expenditures made to: 

    (1) transmit the electricity generated from sources 
 developed under those sections that is ultimately used to 
 provide service to the utility's retail customers, including 
 studies necessary to identify new transmission facilities needed 
 to transmit electricity to Minnesota retail customers from 
 generating facilities constructed to satisfy the renewable 
 energy objectives, provided that the costs of the studies have 
 not been recovered previously under existing tariffs and the 
 utility has filed an application for a certificate of need or 
 for certification as a priority project under section 216B.2425 
 for the new transmission facilities identified in the studies; 
 or 

    (2) 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; 2005 c 97 art 2 s 2