Section 5-445 - Energy project - In general.

§ 5-445. Energy project - In general.
 

(a)  Definitions.-  

(1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated. 

(2) (i) "Renewable fuel" means gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel from any organic matter and its by-products. 

(ii) "Renewable fuel" includes fuel from: 

1. an agricultural crop, agricultural waste, or agricultural residue; 

2. wood, wood waste, or wood residue; 

3. animal waste; 

4. aquatic plants; 

5. sewage or sewage sludge; 

6. municipal, industrial, or commercial waste; 

7. any mixture of any of these substances with inorganic refuse from a public or private municipal waste collection system or similar disposal system; or 

8. any combination of items 1 through 7 of this item. 

(iii) "Renewable fuel" does not include fossil fuel. 

(3) "Transportation facility" means a transportation facility that is used exclusively to transport fuel produced by a fuel production facility to: 

(i) a storage facility; 

(ii) a pipeline connection to an existing pipeline or processing facility; or 

(iii) an area near the fuel production facility. 

(b)  Qualifications.- A project qualifies as an energy project if it consists of: 

(1) an energy conservation project; 

(2) a solar energy project; 

(3) the construction of a facility to produce solar energy equipment; 

(4) the construction of a facility or portion of a facility to: 

(i) produce renewable fuel; and 

(ii) burn renewable fuel, or a mixture of renewable fuel with other materials, to generate: 

1. heat; 

2. mechanical power; 

3. electricity, including by cogeneration; or 

4. other useful forms of energy; 

(5) the conversion of any facility to use renewable fuel; 

(6) the expansion or improvement of a facility that increases its capacity or efficiency to use renewable fuel; 

(7) the acquisition and improvement of equipment for use in a facility specified in items (4) through (6) of this subsection; 

(8) the acquisition or improvement of land for a facility specified in items (4) through (6) of this subsection; 

(9) the purchase, construction, or installation of a facility or equipment to use groundwater as a heat source for a heating system or as a heat sink for an air conditioning system; 

(10) the purchase, construction, or installation of a facility or equipment to develop and use the natural heat of the earth for direct use or to generate electricity; 

(11) the purchase, construction, and installation of a hydroelectric facility at an existing dam that: 

(i) uses the water power potential of the dam; and 

(ii) has no more than 30 megawatts of installed capacity; 

(12) the construction of a fuel production facility for commercial production of a gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel, or of a combination of them, that: 

(i) is produced by chemical or physical transformation of coal or mixtures of coal and other materials; 

(ii) can be used as a substitute for petroleum or natural gas, or any of their derivatives, including chemical feedstocks; and 

(iii) includes only: 

1. the fuel production facility, including the equipment, plant, supplies, and other materials associated with the fuel production facility; 

2. the land and mineral rights required directly for use in connection with the fuel production facility; 

3. any other facility or equipment to be used in the extraction of a mineral for use directly and exclusively in the fuel production facility that is necessary to the project and is: 

A. colocated with or located in the immediate vicinity of the fuel production facility; or 

B. if not colocated or located in accordance with item A of this item: 

I. a coal mine in the case that no other reasonable source of coal is available to the project; or 

II. incidental to the project; and 

4. any transportation facility, electric power plant, electric transmission line, or other facility that is: 

A. for the exclusive use of the project; 

B. incidental to the project; and 

C. necessary to the project; 

(13) the conversion of a facility from using petroleum-based fuel to coal or to a mixture of coal and other materials as a fuel; or 

(14) the construction of a facility to burn coal using innovative technology that increases the efficiency of the combustion process. 
 

[An. Code 1957, art. 83A, § 5-901(l); 2008, ch. 306, § 2; 2009, ch. 60.]