Bill Text: FL S1718 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Renewable Energy Sources
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2021-04-30 - Died in Regulated Industries [S1718 Detail]
Download: Florida-2021-S1718-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2021 SB 1718 By Senator Berman 31-01182B-21 20211718__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to renewable energy sources; amending 3 s. 366.91, F.S.; defining terms; authorizing a public 4 educational customer to enter into a contract for the 5 installation, maintenance, or operation of a renewable 6 energy source device located on property owned or 7 controlled by the public educational customer; 8 providing that financing arrangements for such 9 contracts are not considered retail sales of 10 electricity; limiting the capacity of the renewable 11 energy source device; requiring electric utilities to 12 provide meter aggregation to public educational 13 customers under certain circumstances; providing that 14 shared solar facilities may participate in an electric 15 utility’s net metering program; limiting the annual 16 allocated credits for a public educational customer; 17 requiring electric utilities to adopt a tariff, 18 subject to Public Service Commission review, by a 19 specified date; authorizing business entities or third 20 parties contracted by such owners to install, 21 maintain, and operate a renewable energy source device 22 on or about the structure in which the business entity 23 operates or on a property the business entity owns or 24 leases; authorizing business entities or contracted 25 third parties to sell electricity generated from the 26 device to certain businesses regardless of whether the 27 device is located in a utility’s service territory; 28 exempting from regulation the sale of electricity 29 produced by such devices; limiting the annual 30 allocated credits for business entities; limiting the 31 capacity of the renewable energy source device; 32 creating s. 366.9151, F.S.; defining terms; 33 authorizing public customers to use specified 34 mechanisms to generate electricity using renewable 35 energy generating systems on eligible properties; 36 limiting the capacity of the renewable energy 37 generating system; requiring third-party installers to 38 comply with certain safety and disclosure 39 requirements; authorizing a public customer with 40 multiple meters on multiple properties to aggregate 41 its electricity consumption for net metering purposes; 42 requiring electric utilities to offer public customers 43 a method to aggregate meters after a certain date; 44 limiting the annual allocated credits for public 45 customers; authorizing the commission to adopt 46 specified rules; amending s. 1013.44, F.S.; 47 prohibiting costs associated with such systems from 48 being included in the calculation of total cost per 49 student station for the purpose of a limit imposed on 50 such costs for certain new construction; amending ss. 51 366.92, 373.236, and 403.973, F.S.; conforming cross 52 references; providing an effective date. 53 54 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 55 56 Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 366.91, Florida 57 Statutes, is amended, and subsections (9), (10), and (11) are 58 added to that section, to read: 59 366.91 Renewable energy.— 60 (2) As used in this section, the term: 61 (a) “Aggregated solar school facility” means a single solar 62 facility that is less than 5 megawatts and serves a public 63 educational customer. 64 (b)(a)“Biomass” means a power source that is comprised of, 65 but not limited to, combustible residues or gases from forest 66 products manufacturing, waste, byproducts, or products from 67 agricultural and orchard crops, waste or coproducts from 68 livestock and poultry operations, waste or byproducts from food 69 processing, urban wood waste, municipal solid waste, municipal 70 liquid waste treatment operations, and landfill gas. 71 (c) “Business entity” means a nonprofit corporation, an 72 owner of a commercial or industrial business, or an owner of 73 residential multifamily housing units. 74 (d)(b)“Customer-owned renewable generation” means an 75 electric generating system located on a customer’s premises that 76 is primarily intended to offset part or all of the customer’s 77 electricity requirements with renewable energy. 78 (e)(c)“Net metering” means a metering and billing 79 methodology whereby customer-owned renewable generation is 80 allowed to offset the customer’s electricity consumption on 81 site. 82 (f) “Public educational customer” means a publicly funded 83 K-12 educational institution. 84 (g)(d)“Renewable energy” means electrical energy produced 85 from a method that uses one or more of the following fuels or 86 energy sources: hydrogen produced from sources other than fossil 87 fuels, biomass, solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy, 88 ocean energy, and hydroelectric power. The term includes the 89 alternative energy resource, waste heat, from sulfuric acid 90 manufacturing operations and electrical energy produced using 91 pipeline-quality synthetic gas produced from waste petroleum 92 coke with carbon capture and sequestration. 93 (h) “Renewable energy source device” has the same meaning 94 as in s. 193.624(1). 95 (9)(a) A public educational customer may enter into a 96 contract with a third party to install, maintain, or operate a 97 renewable energy source device located on property owned or 98 controlled by the public educational customer. The contracted 99 third party may sell the electricity generated from the 100 renewable energy source device to the public educational 101 customer through a power purchase agreement or similar financing 102 arrangement. For purposes of this chapter, such financing 103 arrangements are not retail sales of electricity and do not 104 subject the contracted third party, unless otherwise regulated 105 by the commission, to regulation under this chapter. 106 (b) The capacity of the renewable energy source device may 107 not exceed 150 percent of the public educational customer’s 108 usage in the prior calendar year. 109 (10)(a) To facilitate the adoption of solar energy by 110 public educational customers, each electric utility shall 111 provide meter aggregation for purposes of net metering to all 112 public educational customers that seek to allocate bill credits 113 within a single school district from an aggregated solar school 114 facility. 115 (b) If the aggregated solar school facility and accounts 116 are within the same county and served by the same electric 117 utility, a public educational customer may elect to have net 118 metering bill credits from a single aggregated solar school 119 facility allocated to at least 2 but not more than 20 public 120 educational customer accounts within a single school district 121 without regard to physical location. 122 (c) Shared solar school facilities may fully participate in 123 each electric utility’s net metering program. Electric utilities 124 shall allocate the net electricity generated in each billing 125 period from the aggregated solar school facility to each 126 qualifying account per the instructions of the public 127 educational customer. 128 (d) The annual allocated credits in kilowatt hours may not 129 exceed 150 percent of the usage in the prior calendar year of 130 the public educational customer’s aggregated qualifying accounts 131 to which the bill credits are transferred. 132 (e) Subject to review by the commission, each electric 133 utility shall adopt a tariff providing for meter aggregation 134 which complies with this subsection by January 1, 2022. 135 (11)(a) A business entity or a contracted third party may 136 install, maintain, and operate a renewable energy source device 137 on or about the structure in which the business operates or on 138 any property the business owns or leases. The business entity or 139 the contracted third party may sell the electricity generated 140 from the device, regardless of whether the device is located in 141 a utility’s service territory, to another business entity that 142 is located immediately adjacent to the structure, within the 143 same parcel as the structure, or on an immediately adjacent 144 parcel. Such sales are not retail sales of electricity for 145 purposes of this chapter and do not subject the energy-producing 146 business, unless otherwise subject to regulation by the 147 commission, to regulation under this chapter. 148 (b) A business entity is not required to purchase directly 149 or indirectly, by lease or other contractual arrangement, the 150 electricity produced pursuant to paragraph (a). 151 (c) The annual allocated credits in kilowatt hours may not 152 exceed 150 percent of usage in the prior calendar year of the 153 business entity’s accounts to which the bill credits are 154 transferred. If a business entity is an owner of residential 155 multifamily housing units, the usage calculation must include 156 all the meters on the property, even if those meters are not in 157 the name of the owner of the housing units. 158 (d) The capacity of the renewable energy source device may 159 not exceed 150 percent of the business entity’s usage in the 160 prior calendar year. If a business entity is an owner of 161 residential multifamily housing units, the usage calculation 162 must include all the meters on the property, even if those 163 meters are not in the name of the owner of the housing units. 164 Section 2. Section 366.9151, Florida Statutes, is created 165 to read: 166 366.9151 Renewable energy for local governments, colleges, 167 and universities.— 168 (1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section and s. 366.9153, 169 the term: 170 (a) “College” means a Florida College System institution as 171 described in s. 1000.21(3). 172 (b) “Customer-owned renewable energy generation” means a 173 renewable energy generating system located on a customer’s 174 premises that is primarily intended to offset part or all of the 175 customer’s electricity requirements with renewable energy. 176 (c) “Eligible property” means any property owned, leased, 177 or rented by a public customer that is located: 178 1. Within the same county as the customer’s renewable 179 energy generation system; and 180 2. Within the same electric utility service territory as 181 the customer’s renewable energy generating system. 182 (d) “Local government” means: 183 1. A county, municipality, school district, or other 184 political subdivision; and 185 2. Any department, agency, board, bureau, district, 186 commission, authority, or similar body of a county, 187 municipality, school district, or other political subdivision. 188 (e) “Public customer” means a local government, college, or 189 university. 190 (f) “Renewable energy generating system” is a system that 191 generates electricity from renewable energy. The term “renewable 192 energy” means renewable energy as defined in s. 366.91(2). 193 (g) “University” means a state university as described in 194 s. 1000.21(6). 195 (2) FINANCING AND LEASING OF CUSTOMER-OWNED RENEWABLE 196 ENERGY GENERATING SYSTEMS.— 197 (a) A public customer may install, maintain, and operate or 198 may contract with a third party to install, maintain, and 199 operate, one or more renewable energy generating systems on any 200 eligible property to offset the public customer’s electricity 201 requirements. For purposes of this section, electricity produced 202 by the renewable energy generating system is deemed to be 203 customer-owned generation, without regard to the ownership of 204 the renewable energy source device by a contracted third party. 205 (b) A contracted third party may sell the electricity 206 generated by a renewable energy generating system to a public 207 customer or may guarantee the quantity of electricity to be 208 produced by such device under a lease or financing agreement. 209 Such sales or guarantees are not considered retail sales of 210 electricity and do not subject the public customer or contracted 211 third party to regulation under this chapter, unless the third 212 party is otherwise subject to regulation. 213 (c) The capacity of the renewable energy generating system 214 may not exceed 150 percent of the public customer’s usage in the 215 prior calendar year. 216 (d) Each third party who installs a renewable energy 217 generating system under this section must comply with the safety 218 and disclosure requirements of ss. 520.20-520.26. 219 (3) METER AGGREGATION.— 220 (a) In order to offset part or all of a public customer’s 221 electricity requirements with renewable energy across multiple 222 facilities or properties, a public customer with multiple meters 223 may aggregate its electricity consumption by totaling the 224 consumption on any or all of the meters located on the 225 customer’s eligible properties and offset such aggregated 226 consumption requirements with customer-owned renewable energy 227 generation under the electric utility’s net metering program. 228 (b) On or before January 1, 2022, each electric utility 229 shall offer to all public customers a method to aggregate meters 230 consistent with its net metering program and its standardized 231 interconnection agreement for customer-owned renewable energy 232 generation. 233 (c) The annual allocated credits in kilowatt hours may not 234 exceed 150 percent of usage in the prior calendar year of the 235 public customer’s aggregated qualifying accounts to which the 236 bill credits are transferred. 237 (4) RULES.—The commission may adopt rules to administer 238 this section. 239 Section 3. Subsection (4) is added to section 1013.44, 240 Florida Statutes, to read: 241 1013.44 Low-energy use design; solar energy systems; 242 swimming pool heaters.— 243 (4) Any cost associated with a solar energy system that is 244 located on the property of an educational facility may not be 245 included in calculating the total cost per student station for 246 purposes of the limitation imposed on cost per student station 247 for new construction under s. 1013.64(6)(b). 248 Section 4. Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section 249 366.92, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 250 366.92 Florida renewable energy policy.— 251 (2) As used in this section, the term: 252 (b) “Renewable energy” means renewable energy as defined in 253 s. 366.91(2)s. 366.91(2)(d). 254 Section 5. Subsection (7) of section 373.236, Florida 255 Statutes, is amended to read: 256 373.236 Duration of permits; compliance reports.— 257 (7) A permit approved for a renewable energy generating 258 facility or the cultivation of agricultural products on lands 259 consisting of 1,000 acres or more for use in the production of 260 renewable energy, as defined in s. 366.91(2)s. 366.91(2)(d), 261 shall be granted for a term of at least 25 years at the 262 applicant’s request based on the anticipated life of the 263 facility if there is sufficient data to provide reasonable 264 assurance that the conditions for permit issuance will be met 265 for the duration of the permit; otherwise, a permit may be 266 issued for a shorter duration that reflects the longest period 267 for which such reasonable assurances are provided. Such a permit 268 is subject to compliance reports under subsection (4). 269 Section 6. Paragraph (f) of subsection (3) and paragraph 270 (b) of subsection (19) of section 403.973, Florida Statutes, are 271 amended to read: 272 403.973 Expedited permitting; amendments to comprehensive 273 plans.— 274 (3) 275 (f) Projects resulting in the production of biofuels 276 cultivated on lands that are 1,000 acres or more or in the 277 construction of a biofuel or biodiesel processing facility or a 278 facility generating renewable energy, as defined in s. 366.91(2) 279s. 366.91(2)(d), are eligible for the expedited permitting 280 process. 281 (19) The following projects are ineligible for review under 282 this part: 283 (b) A project, the primary purpose of which is to: 284 1. Effect the final disposal of solid waste, biomedical 285 waste, or hazardous waste in this state. 286 2. Produce electrical power, unless the production of 287 electricity is incidental and not the primary function of the 288 project or the electrical power is derived from a fuel source 289 for renewable energy as defined in s. 366.91(2)s. 366.91(2)(d). 290 3. Extract natural resources. 291 4. Produce oil. 292 5. Construct, maintain, or operate an oil, petroleum, or 293 sewage pipeline. 294 Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.