Bill Text: MN HF780 | 2013-2014 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Waste heat recovered and used as thermal energy and biomass-generated thermal energy permitted to be counted toward energy savings goals.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-02-21 - Introduction and first reading, referred to Energy Policy [HF780 Detail]
Download: Minnesota-2013-HF780-Introduced.html
1.2relating to energy; conservation; permitting waste heat recovered and used as
1.3thermal energy and biomass-generated thermal energy to be counted towards
1.4energy savings goals;amending Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 216B.241,
1.5subdivision 1, by adding subdivisions.
1.6BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
1.7 Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 216B.241, subdivision 1, is amended to
1.8read:
1.9 Subdivision 1. Definitions. For purposes of this section and section216B.16,
1.10subdivision 6b , the terms defined in this subdivision have the meanings given them.
1.11 (a) "Commission" means the Public Utilities Commission.
1.12 (b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of commerce.
1.13 (c) "Department" means the Department of Commerce.
1.14 (d) "Energy conservation" means demand-side management of energy supplies
1.15resulting in a net reduction in energy use. Load management that reduces overall energy
1.16use is energy conservation.
1.17 (e) "Energy conservation improvement" means a project that results in energy
1.18efficiency or energy conservation. Energy conservation improvement may include waste
1.19heatrecovery that is recovered and converted into electricity, but does not include electric
1.20utility infrastructure projects approved by the commission under section216B.1636 .
1.21 Energy conservation improvement also includes waste heat recovered and used as thermal
1.22energy.
1.23 (f) "Energy efficiency" means measures or programs, including energy conservation
1.24measures or programs, that target consumer behavior, equipment, processes, or devices
1.25designed to produce either an absolute decrease in consumption of electric energy or natural
2.1gas or a decrease in consumption of electric energy or natural gas on a per unit of production
2.2basis without a reduction in the quality or level of service provided to the energy consumer.
2.3 (g) "Gross annual retail energy sales" means annual electric sales to all retail
2.4customers in a utility's or association's Minnesota service territory or natural gas
2.5throughput to all retail customers, including natural gas transportation customers, on a
2.6utility's distribution system in Minnesota. For purposes of this section, gross annual
2.7retail energy sales exclude:
2.8(1) gas sales to:
2.9(i) a large energy facility;
2.10(ii) a large customer facility whose natural gas utility has been exempted by the
2.11commissioner under subdivision 1a, paragraph (b), with respect to natural gas sales made
2.12to the large customer facility; and
2.13(iii) a commercial gas customer facility whose natural gas utility has been exempted
2.14by the commissioner under subdivision 1a, paragraph (c), with respect to natural gas sales
2.15made to the commercial gas customer facility; and
2.16(2) electric sales to a large customer facility whose electric utility has been exempted
2.17by the commissioner under subdivision 1a, paragraph (b), with respect to electric sales
2.18made to the large customer facility.
2.19 (h) "Investments and expenses of a public utility" includes the investments
2.20and expenses incurred by a public utility in connection with an energy conservation
2.21improvement, including but not limited to:
2.22 (1) the differential in interest cost between the market rate and the rate charged on a
2.23no-interest or below-market interest loan made by a public utility to a customer for the
2.24purchase or installation of an energy conservation improvement;
2.25 (2) the difference between the utility's cost of purchase or installation of energy
2.26conservation improvements and any price charged by a public utility to a customer for
2.27such improvements.
2.28 (i) "Large customer facility" means all buildings, structures, equipment, and
2.29installations at a single site that collectively (1) impose a peak electrical demand on an
2.30electric utility's system of not less than 20,000 kilowatts, measured in the same way as the
2.31utility that serves the customer facility measures electrical demand for billing purposes or
2.32(2) consume not less than 500 million cubic feet of natural gas annually. In calculating
2.33peak electrical demand, a large customer facility may include demand offset by on-site
2.34cogeneration facilities and, if engaged in mineral extraction, may aggregate peak energy
2.35demand from the large customer facility's mining and processing operations.
3.1 (j) "Large energy facility" has the meaning given it in section216B.2421 ,
3.2subdivision 2, clause (1).
3.3 (k) "Load management" means an activity, service, or technology to change the
3.4timing or the efficiency of a customer's use of energy that allows a utility or a customer to
3.5respond to wholesale market fluctuations or to reduce peak demand for energy or capacity.
3.6 (l) "Low-income programs" means energy conservation improvement programs that
3.7directly serve the needs of low-income persons, including low-income renters.
3.8(m) "Qualifying utility" means a utility that supplies the energy to a customer that
3.9enables the customer to qualify as a large customer facility.
3.10(n) "Waste heat recovered and used as thermal energy" means heat energy recovered
3.11from equipment, buildings, or industrial processes, including but not limited to electric
3.12energy generation, that is distributed as thermal energy in the form of hot water, chilled
3.13water, or steam and used to heat or cool one or more buildings or processes, resulting in a
3.14net reduction in the demand side consumption of natural gas, electric energy, or both.
3.15(n) (o) "Waste heat recovery converted into electricity" means an energy recovery
3.16process that converts otherwise lost energy from the heat of exhaust stacks or pipes used
3.17for engines or manufacturing or industrial processes, or the reduction of high pressure
3.18in water or gas pipelines.
3.19 Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 216B.241, is amended by adding a
3.20subdivision to read:
3.21 Subd. 10. Waste heat recovery; thermal energy distribution. Demand side natural
3.22gas or electric energy displaced by use of waste heat recovered and used as thermal energy
3.23is eligible to be counted towards a utility's natural gas or electric energy savings goals.
3.24 Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 216B.241, is amended by adding a
3.25subdivision to read:
3.26 Subd. 11. Qualifying biomass-generated thermal energy projects. A utility or
3.27association may include in its conservation plan a program that installs biomass-generated
3.28thermal energy to displace use of natural gas, fuel oil, or propane to heat buildings in a city
3.29or on a college or university campus. Subject to approval by the commissioner, the natural
3.30gas displaced through the use of biomass-generated thermal energy is eligible to be counted
3.31toward natural gas savings goals. In those locations where a natural gas utility does not
3.32exist, the commissioner may allow an electric utility to count the resulting energy savings
3.33based upon one kilowatt-hour of electric energy savings for each 3,415 British thermal
4.1units of reduced propane or fuel oil consumption, provided the commissioner determines
4.2it is in the public interest to encourage use of thermal energy generated from biomass.
1.3thermal energy and biomass-generated thermal energy to be counted towards
1.4energy savings goals;amending Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 216B.241,
1.5subdivision 1, by adding subdivisions.
1.6BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
1.7 Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 216B.241, subdivision 1, is amended to
1.8read:
1.9 Subdivision 1. Definitions. For purposes of this section and section
1.10subdivision 6b
1.11 (a) "Commission" means the Public Utilities Commission.
1.12 (b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of commerce.
1.13 (c) "Department" means the Department of Commerce.
1.14 (d) "Energy conservation" means demand-side management of energy supplies
1.15resulting in a net reduction in energy use. Load management that reduces overall energy
1.16use is energy conservation.
1.17 (e) "Energy conservation improvement" means a project that results in energy
1.18efficiency or energy conservation. Energy conservation improvement may include waste
1.19heat
1.20utility infrastructure projects approved by the commission under section
1.21 Energy conservation improvement also includes waste heat recovered and used as thermal
1.22energy.
1.23 (f) "Energy efficiency" means measures or programs, including energy conservation
1.24measures or programs, that target consumer behavior, equipment, processes, or devices
1.25designed to produce either an absolute decrease in consumption of electric energy or natural
2.1gas or a decrease in consumption of electric energy or natural gas on a per unit of production
2.2basis without a reduction in the quality or level of service provided to the energy consumer.
2.3 (g) "Gross annual retail energy sales" means annual electric sales to all retail
2.4customers in a utility's or association's Minnesota service territory or natural gas
2.5throughput to all retail customers, including natural gas transportation customers, on a
2.6utility's distribution system in Minnesota. For purposes of this section, gross annual
2.7retail energy sales exclude:
2.8(1) gas sales to:
2.9(i) a large energy facility;
2.10(ii) a large customer facility whose natural gas utility has been exempted by the
2.11commissioner under subdivision 1a, paragraph (b), with respect to natural gas sales made
2.12to the large customer facility; and
2.13(iii) a commercial gas customer facility whose natural gas utility has been exempted
2.14by the commissioner under subdivision 1a, paragraph (c), with respect to natural gas sales
2.15made to the commercial gas customer facility; and
2.16(2) electric sales to a large customer facility whose electric utility has been exempted
2.17by the commissioner under subdivision 1a, paragraph (b), with respect to electric sales
2.18made to the large customer facility.
2.19 (h) "Investments and expenses of a public utility" includes the investments
2.20and expenses incurred by a public utility in connection with an energy conservation
2.21improvement, including but not limited to:
2.22 (1) the differential in interest cost between the market rate and the rate charged on a
2.23no-interest or below-market interest loan made by a public utility to a customer for the
2.24purchase or installation of an energy conservation improvement;
2.25 (2) the difference between the utility's cost of purchase or installation of energy
2.26conservation improvements and any price charged by a public utility to a customer for
2.27such improvements.
2.28 (i) "Large customer facility" means all buildings, structures, equipment, and
2.29installations at a single site that collectively (1) impose a peak electrical demand on an
2.30electric utility's system of not less than 20,000 kilowatts, measured in the same way as the
2.31utility that serves the customer facility measures electrical demand for billing purposes or
2.32(2) consume not less than 500 million cubic feet of natural gas annually. In calculating
2.33peak electrical demand, a large customer facility may include demand offset by on-site
2.34cogeneration facilities and, if engaged in mineral extraction, may aggregate peak energy
2.35demand from the large customer facility's mining and processing operations.
3.1 (j) "Large energy facility" has the meaning given it in section
3.2subdivision 2, clause (1).
3.3 (k) "Load management" means an activity, service, or technology to change the
3.4timing or the efficiency of a customer's use of energy that allows a utility or a customer to
3.5respond to wholesale market fluctuations or to reduce peak demand for energy or capacity.
3.6 (l) "Low-income programs" means energy conservation improvement programs that
3.7directly serve the needs of low-income persons, including low-income renters.
3.8(m) "Qualifying utility" means a utility that supplies the energy to a customer that
3.9enables the customer to qualify as a large customer facility.
3.10(n) "Waste heat recovered and used as thermal energy" means heat energy recovered
3.11from equipment, buildings, or industrial processes, including but not limited to electric
3.12energy generation, that is distributed as thermal energy in the form of hot water, chilled
3.13water, or steam and used to heat or cool one or more buildings or processes, resulting in a
3.14net reduction in the demand side consumption of natural gas, electric energy, or both.
3.15
3.16process that converts otherwise lost energy from the heat of exhaust stacks or pipes used
3.17for engines or manufacturing or industrial processes, or the reduction of high pressure
3.18in water or gas pipelines.
3.19 Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 216B.241, is amended by adding a
3.20subdivision to read:
3.21 Subd. 10. Waste heat recovery; thermal energy distribution. Demand side natural
3.22gas or electric energy displaced by use of waste heat recovered and used as thermal energy
3.23is eligible to be counted towards a utility's natural gas or electric energy savings goals.
3.24 Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 216B.241, is amended by adding a
3.25subdivision to read:
3.26 Subd. 11. Qualifying biomass-generated thermal energy projects. A utility or
3.27association may include in its conservation plan a program that installs biomass-generated
3.28thermal energy to displace use of natural gas, fuel oil, or propane to heat buildings in a city
3.29or on a college or university campus. Subject to approval by the commissioner, the natural
3.30gas displaced through the use of biomass-generated thermal energy is eligible to be counted
3.31toward natural gas savings goals. In those locations where a natural gas utility does not
3.32exist, the commissioner may allow an electric utility to count the resulting energy savings
3.33based upon one kilowatt-hour of electric energy savings for each 3,415 British thermal
4.1units of reduced propane or fuel oil consumption, provided the commissioner determines
4.2it is in the public interest to encourage use of thermal energy generated from biomass.
