AN ACT REDEFINING CLASS I RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subdivision (26) of subsection (a) of section 16-1 of the 2010 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(26) "Class I renewable energy source" means (A) energy derived from solar power, wind power, a fuel cell, methane gas from landfills, ocean thermal power, wave or tidal power, low emission advanced renewable energy conversion technologies, a run-of-the-river hydropower facility provided such facility has a generating capacity of not more than five megawatts, does not cause an appreciable change in the river flow, and began operation after July 1, 2003, or a sustainable biomass facility with an average emission rate of equal to or less than .075 pounds of nitrogen oxides per million BTU of heat input for the previous calendar quarter, except that energy derived from a sustainable biomass facility with a capacity of less than five hundred kilowatts that began construction before July 1, 2003, may be considered a Class I renewable energy source, [or] (B) any electrical generation, including distributed generation, generated from a Class I renewable energy source, or (C) incremental energy resulting from increased capacity of ten megawatts or less of efficiency improvements at hydropower facilities operational on or before the effective date of this section that meet the standards of the Low Impact Hydropower Institute;

Statement of Purpose:

To include energy produced from upgrades at existing hydropower plants in the definition of Class I renewable energy sources.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]