§ 8002 - Definitions
§ 8002. Definitions
For purposes of this chapter:
(1)(A) "Renewable pricing" shall mean an optional service provided or contracted for by an electric company:
(i) under which the company's customers may voluntarily either:
(I) purchase all or part of their electric energy from renewable sources as defined in this chapter; or
(II) cause the purchase and retirement of tradeable renewable energy credits on the participating customer's behalf; and
(ii) which increases the company's reliance on renewable sources of energy beyond those the electric company would otherwise be required to provide under section 218c of this title.
(B) Renewable pricing programs may include, but are not limited to:
(i) contribution-based programs in which participating customers can determine the amount of a contribution, monthly or otherwise, that will be deposited in a board-approved fund for new renewable energy project development;
(ii) energy-based programs in which customers may choose all or a discrete portion of their electric energy use to be supplied from renewable resources;
(iii) facility-based programs in which customers may subscribe to a share of the capacity or energy from specific new renewable energy resources.
(2) "Renewable energy" means energy produced using a technology that relies on a resource that is being consumed at a harvest rate at or below its natural regeneration rate.
(A) For purposes of this subdivision (2), methane gas and other flammable gases produced by the decay of sewage treatment plant wastes or landfill wastes and anaerobic digestion of agricultural products, byproducts, or wastes shall be considered renewable energy resources, but no form of solid waste, other than agricultural or silvicultural waste, shall be considered renewable.
(B) For purposes of this subdivision (2), no form of nuclear fuel shall be considered renewable.
(C) For purposes of this chapter, the only energy produced by a hydroelectric facility to be considered renewable shall be from a hydroelectric facility with a generating capacity of 200 megawatts or less.
(D) After conducting administrative proceedings, the board may add technologies or technology categories to the definition of "renewable energy," provided that technologies using the following fuels shall not be considered renewable energy supplies: coal, oil, propane, and natural gas.
(3) "Existing renewable energy" means all types of renewable energy sold from the supply portfolio of a Vermont retail electricity provider that is not considered to be from a new renewable energy source.
(4) "New renewable energy" means renewable energy produced by a generating resource coming into service after December 31, 2004. This may include the additional energy from an existing renewable facility retrofitted with advanced technologies or otherwise operated, modified, or expanded to increase the kwh output of the facility in excess of an historical baseline established by calculating the average output of that facility for the 10-year period that ended December 31, 2004. If the production of new renewable energy through changes in operations, modification, or expansion involves combustion of the resource, the system also must result in an incrementally higher level of energy conversion efficiency or significantly reduced emissions. For the purposes of this chapter, renewable energy refers to either "existing renewable energy" or "new renewable energy."
(5) "Qualifying SPEED resources" means contracts for in-state resources in the SPEED program established under section 8005 of this title that meet the definition of new renewable energy under this section, whether or not renewable energy credits are attached.
(6) "Nonqualifying SPEED resources" means contracts for in-state resources in the SPEED program established under section 8005 of this title that are fossil fuel-based, combined heat and power (CHP) facilities that sequentially produce both electric power and thermal energy from a single source or fuel. In addition, at least 20 percent of a facility's fuel's total recovered energy must be thermal and at least 13 percent must be electric, the design system efficiency (the sum of full load design thermal output and electric output divided by the heat input) must be at least 65 percent, and the facility must meet air quality standards established by the agency of natural resources.
(7) "Energy conversion efficiency" means the effective use of energy and heat from a combustion process.
(8) "Tradeable renewable energy credits" means all of the environmental attributes associated with a single unit of energy generated by a renewable energy source where:
(A) those attributes are transferred or recorded separately from that unit of energy;
(B) the party claiming ownership of the tradeable renewable energy credits has acquired the exclusive legal ownership of all, and not less than all, the environmental attributes associated with that unit of energy; and
(C) exclusive legal ownership can be verified through an auditable contract path or pursuant to the system established or authorized by the public service board or any program for tracking and verification of the ownership of environmental attributes of energy legally recognized in any state and approved by the board.
(9) "Retail electricity provider" means a company engaged in the distribution or sale of electricity directly to the public.
(10) "Board" means the public service board.
(11) "Commissioned" or "commissioning" means the first time a plant is put into operation following initial construction or modernization if the costs of modernization are at least 50 percent of the costs that would be required to build a new plant including all buildings and structures technically required for the new plant's operation. However, these terms shall not include activities necessary to establish operational readiness of a plant.
(12) "Plant" means any independent technical facility that generates electricity from renewable energy. A group of newly constructed facilities, such as wind turbines, shall be considered one plant if the group is part of the same project and uses common equipment and infrastructure such as roads, control facilities, and connections to the electric grid.
(13) "Plant capacity" means the rated electrical nameplate for a plant.
(14) "Plant owner" means a person who has the right to sell electricity generated by a plant.
(15) "SPEED facilitator" means an entity appointed by the board pursuant to subdivision 8005(b)(1) of this title. (Added 2003, No. 69, § 1, eff. June 17, 2003; amended 2005, No. 61, § 2; 2007, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 19; 2009, No. 45, § 2, eff. May 27, 2009.)