Bill Text: VA HB2390 | 2017 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Renewable energy power purchase agreements; expands pilot program, sunset provision.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2017-04-05 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0803) [HB2390 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2017-HB2390-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §1 of the first enactment of Chapters 358 and 382 of the Acts of Assembly of 2013 is amended and reenacted as follows:
§1. That the State Corporation Commission (Commission) shall
conduct a pilot program programs under which a person that
owns or operates a solar-powered or wind-powered electricity generation
facility located on premises owned or leased by an eligible customer-generator,
as defined in §56-594 of the Code of Virginia, shall be permitted to sell the
electricity generated from such facility exclusively to such eligible
customer-generator under a power purchase agreement used to provide third party
financing of the costs of such a renewable generation facility (third party
power purchase agreement), subject to the following terms, conditions, and
restrictions:
a. The A pilot program shall be conducted within
the certificated service territory of an each investor-owned
electric utility that was bound by a rate case settlement adopted by the
Commission that extended in its application beyond January 1, 2002, which
utility is hereafter referred to as the other than a utility described
in subsection G of §56-580 of the Code of Virginia ("Pilot
Utility"), provided that within the certificated service territory of
an investor-owned utility that was not bound by a rate case settlement adopted
by the Commission that extended in its application beyond January 1, 2002,
nonprofit, private institutions of higher education as defined in §23.1-100 of
the Code of Virginia that are not being served by generation provided under
subdivision A 5 of §56-577 of the Code of Virginia shall be deemed to
be customer-generators eligible to participate in the pilot program;
b. The aggregated capacity of all generation facilities that
are subject to such third party power purchase agreements at any time during
the pilot program shall not exceed 50 megawatts for an investor-owned
utility that was bound by a rate case settlement adopted by the Commission that
extended in its application beyond January 1, 2002, or seven megawatts
for an investor-owned utility that was not bound by a rate case settlement
adopted by the Commission that extended in its application beyond January 1,
2002. Such limitation on the aggregated capacity of such facilities shall
constitute a portion of the existing limit of one percent of the each
Pilot Utility's adjusted Virginia peak-load forecast for the previous year that
is available to eligible customer-generators pursuant to subsection E of §
56-594 of the Code of Virginia. Notwithstanding any provision of this act that
incorporates provisions of §56-594, the seller and the customer shall elect
either to (i) enter into their third party power purchase agreement subject to
the conditions and provisions of the Pilot Utility's net energy metering
program under §56-594 or (ii) provide that electricity generated from the
generation facilities subject to the third party power purchase agreement will
not be net metered under §56-594, provided that an election not to net meter
under §56-594 shall not exempt the third party power purchase agreement and
the parties thereto from the requirements of this act that incorporate
provisions of §56-594;
c. A solar-powered or wind-powered generation facility with a capacity of no less than 50 kilowatts and no more than one megawatt shall be eligible for a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program; however, if the customer under such agreement is an entity with tax-exempt status in accordance with §501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, then such facility is eligible for the pilot program even if it does not meet the 50 kilowatts minimum size requirement. The maximum generation capacity of one megawatt shall not affect the limits on the capacity of electrical generating capacities of 20 kilowatts for residential customers and 500 kilowatts for nonresidential customers set forth in subsection B of § 56-594 of the Code of Virginia, which limitations shall continue to apply to net energy metering generation facilities regardless of whether they are the subject of a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program;
d. A generation facility that is the subject of a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program shall serve only one customer, and a third party power purchase agreement shall not serve multiple customers;
e. The customer under a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program shall be subject to the interconnection and other requirements imposed on eligible customer-generators pursuant to subsection C of §56-594 of the Code of Virginia, including the requirement that the customer bear the reasonable costs, as determined by the Commission, of the items described in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of such subsection;
f. A third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program shall not be valid unless it conforms in all respects to the requirements of the pilot program conducted under the provisions of this act and unless the Commission and the Pilot Utility are provided written notice of the parties' intent to enter into a third party power purchase agreement not less than 30 days prior to the agreement's proposed effective date; and
g. An affiliate of the Pilot Utility shall be permitted to offer and enter into third party power purchase arrangements on the same basis as may any other person that satisfies the requirements of being a seller under a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program.
2. That the provisions of this act relating to a pilot program conducted within the certificated service territory of an investor-owned utility that was not bound by a rate case settlement adopted by the State Corporation Commission that extended in its application beyond January 1, 2002, shall expire on July 1, 2022. Such expiration shall not affect any power purchase agreement entered into by such a utility during the term of its pilot program.
