2006 Minnesota Statutes

216B.1612 COMMUNITY-BASED ENERGY DEVELOPMENT; TARIFF.
    Subdivision 1. Tariff establishment. A tariff shall be established to optimize local, regional,
and state benefits from wind energy development and to facilitate widespread development of
community-based wind energy projects throughout Minnesota.
    Subd. 2. Definitions. (a) The terms used in this section have the meanings given them in
this subdivision.
(b) "C-BED tariff" or "tariff" means a community-based energy development tariff.
(c) "Qualifying owner" means:
(1) a Minnesota resident;
(2) a limited liability company that is organized under the laws of this state and that is made
up of members who are Minnesota residents;
(3) a Minnesota nonprofit organization organized under chapter 317A;
(4) a Minnesota cooperative association organized under chapter 308A or 308B, other than a
rural electric cooperative association or a generation and transmission cooperative;
(5) a Minnesota political subdivision or local government other than a municipal electric
utility or municipal power agency, including, but not limited to, a county, statutory or home rule
charter city, town, school district, or public or private higher education institution or any other
local or regional governmental organization such as a board, commission, or association; or
(6) a tribal council.
(d) "Net present value rate" means a rate equal to the net present value of the nominal
payments to a project divided by the total expected energy production of the project over the life
of its power purchase agreement.
(e) "Standard reliability criteria" means:
(1) can be safely integrated into and operated within the utility's grid without causing any
adverse or unsafe consequences; and
(2) is consistent with the utility's resource needs as identified in its most recent resource plan
submitted under section 216B.2422.
(f) "Community-based energy project" or "C-BED project" means a new wind energy
project that:
(1) has no single qualifying owner owning more than 15 percent of a C-BED project that
consists of more than two turbines; or
(2) for C-BED projects of one or two turbines, is owned entirely by one or more qualifying
owners, with at least 51 percent of the total financial benefits over the life of the project flowing
to qualifying owners; and
(3) has a resolution of support adopted by the county board of each county in which the
project is to be located, or in the case of a project located within the boundaries of a reservation,
the tribal council for that reservation.
    Subd. 3. Tariff rate. (a) The tariff described in subdivision 4 must have a rate schedule that
allows for a rate up to a 2.7 cents per kilowatt-hour net present value rate over the 20-year life of
the power purchase agreement. The tariff must provide for a rate that is higher in the first ten years
of the power purchase agreement than in the last ten years. The discount rate required to calculate
the net present value must be the utility's normal discount rate used for its other business purposes.
(b) The commission shall consider mechanisms to encourage the aggregation of C-BED
projects.
(c) The commission shall require that qualifying owners provide sufficient security to secure
performance under the power purchase agreement, and shall prohibit the transfer of the C-BED
project to a nonqualifying owner during the initial 20 years of the contract.
    Subd. 4. Utilities to offer tariff. By December 1, 2005, each public utility providing electric
service at retail shall file for commission approval a community-based energy development tariff
consistent with subdivision 3. Within 90 days of the first commission approval order under this
subdivision, each municipal power agency and generation and transmission cooperative electric
association shall adopt a community-based energy development tariff as consistent as possible
with subdivision 3.
    Subd. 5. Priority for C-BED projects. (a) A utility subject to section 216B.1691 that
needs to construct new generation, or purchase the output from new generation, as part of
its plan to satisfy its good faith objective under that section should take reasonable steps to
determine if one or more C-BED projects are available that meet the utility's cost and reliability
requirements, applying standard reliability criteria, to fulfill some or all of the identified need at
minimal impact to customer rates.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to obligate a utility to enter into a power purchase
agreement under a C-BED tariff developed under this section.
(b) Each utility shall include in its resource plan submitted under section 216B.2422 a
description of its efforts to purchase energy from C-BED projects, including a list of the projects
under contract and the amount of C-BED energy purchased.
(c) The commission shall consider the efforts and activities of a utility to purchase energy
from C-BED projects when evaluating its good faith effort towards meeting the renewable energy
objective under section 216B.1691.
    Subd. 6. Property owner participation. To the extent feasible, a developer of a C-BED
project must provide, in writing, an opportunity to invest in the C-BED project to each property
owner on whose property a high-voltage transmission line is constructed that will transmit the
energy generated by the C-BED project to market. This subdivision applies if the property is
located and the owner resides in the county where the C-BED project is located.
    Subd. 7. Other C-BED tariff issues. (a) A community-based project developer and a utility
shall negotiate the rate and power purchase agreement terms consistent with the tariff established
under subdivision 4.
(b) At the discretion of the developer, a community-based project developer and a utility
may negotiate a power purchase agreement with terms different from the tariff established under
subdivision 4.
(c) A qualifying owner, or any combination of qualifying owners, may develop a joint
venture project with a nonqualifying wind energy project developer. However, the terms of the
C-BED tariff may only apply to the portion of the energy production of the total project that is
directly proportional to the equity share of the project owned by the qualifying owners.
(d) A project that is operating under a power purchase agreement under a C-BED tariff
is not eligible for net energy billing under section 216B.164, subdivision 3, or for production
incentives under section 216C.41.
(e) A public utility must receive commission approval of a power purchase agreement for a
C-BED tariffed project. The commission shall provide the utility's ratepayers an opportunity to
address the reasonableness of the proposed power purchase agreement. Unless a party objects
to a contract within 30 days of submission of the contract to the commission the contract is
deemed approved.
History: 2005 c 97 art 2 s 1; 2006 c 212 art 1 s 11