Bill Text: MN SF642 | 2013-2014 | 88th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Public utilities recovered waste heat used as thermal energy and biomass-generated thermal energy counted toward energy savings goals authorization
Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-05-19 - General Orders: Stricken and returned to author [SF642 Detail]
Download: Minnesota-2013-SF642-Engrossed.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 a subdivision.
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 capturing heat energy
3.11that would otherwise be exhausted or dissipated to the environment from machinery,
3.12buildings, or industrial processes and productively using such recovered thermal energy
3.13where it was captured or distributing it as thermal energy to other locations where it is
3.14used to reduce 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
3.22natural gas or electric energy displaced by use of waste heat recovered and used as thermal
3.23energy, including the recovered thermal energy from a cogeneration or combined heat and
3.24power facility, is eligible to be counted towards a utility's natural gas or electric energy
3.25savings goals, subject to department approval.
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 a subdivision.
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 capturing heat energy
3.11that would otherwise be exhausted or dissipated to the environment from machinery,
3.12buildings, or industrial processes and productively using such recovered thermal energy
3.13where it was captured or distributing it as thermal energy to other locations where it is
3.14used to reduce 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
3.22natural gas or electric energy displaced by use of waste heat recovered and used as thermal
3.23energy, including the recovered thermal energy from a cogeneration or combined heat and
3.24power facility, is eligible to be counted towards a utility's natural gas or electric energy
3.25savings goals, subject to department approval.
