Vermont H 159: An act relating to repealing the Renewable Energy Standard

Bill Text

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VT LEG #379712 v.1
H.159 1
Introduced by Representatives North of Ferrisburgh, Bailey of Hyde Park, 2
Bosch of Clarendon, Boutin of Barre City, Canfield of Fair 3
Haven, Coffin of Cavendish, Demar of Enosburgh, Feltus of 4
Lyndon, Harvey of Castleton, Higley of Lowell, Howland of 5
Rutland Town, Keyser of Rutland City, Labor of Morgan, 6
Luneau of St. Albans City, McFaun of Barre Town, Morgan, M. 7
of Milton, Nelson of Derby, Nielsen of Brandon, Pinsonault of 8
Dorset, Powers of Waterford, Pritchard of Pawlet, Steady of 9
Milton, Tagliavia of Corinth, and Winter of Ludlow 10
Referred to Committee on 11
Date: 12
Subject: Public service; energy; renewable energy; Renewable Energy 13
Standard 14
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to repeal the 15
Renewable Energy Standard. 16
An act relating to repealing the Renewable Energy Standard 17
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 18
Sec. 1. REPEALS 19
30 V.S.A. §§ 8004, 8005, 8006, and 8006a are repealed. 20

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Sec. 2. 30 V.S.A. § 8002 is amended to read: 1
§ 8002. DEFINITIONS 2
As used in this chapter: 3
* * * 4
(17) “New renewable energy” means renewable energy capable of 5
delivery in New England and produced by a specific and identifiable plant 6
coming into service on or after January 1, 2010, but excluding energy 7
generated by a hydroelectric generation plant with a capacity of 200 MW or 8
greater. 9
* * * 10
(B) Except as provided in subdivision 8005(c)(3) of this title, “new 11
“New renewable energy” also includes the additional energy from an existing 12
renewable energy plant retrofitted with advanced technologies or otherwise 13
operated, modified, or expanded to increase the kWh output of the plant in 14
excess of a historical baseline established by calculating the average output of 15
that plant for the 10-year period that ended January 1, 2010. If the production 16
of new renewable energy through changes in operations, modification, or 17
expansion involves combustion of the resource, the system also must result in 18
an incrementally higher level of energy conversion efficiency or significantly 19
reduced emissions. 20
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(29) “RES” means the Renewable Energy Standard established under 1
sections 8004 and 8005 of this title. [Repealed.] 2
* * * 3
Sec. 3. 30 V.S.A. § 8005a is amended to read: 4
§ 8005a. STANDARD OFFER PROGRAM 5
* * * 6
(c) Cumulative capacity. In accordance with this subsection, the 7
Commission shall issue standard offers to new standard offer plants until a 8
cumulative plant capacity amount of 127.5 MW is reached. 9
* * * 10
(C) Adjustment; greenhouse gas reduction credits. The Commission 11
shall adjust the annual increase to account for greenhouse gas reduction credits 12
by multiplying the annual increase by one minus the ratio of the prior year’s 13
greenhouse gas reduction credits to that year’s statewide retail electric sales. 14
(i) The amount of the prior year’s greenhouse gas reduction 15
credits shall be determined in accordance with subdivision 8006a(a) of this 16
title. 17
(ii) The adjustment in the annual increase shall be applied 18
proportionally to the independent developer block and the provider block. 19

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(iii) Greenhouse gas reduction credits used to diminish a 1
provider’s obligation under section 8004 of this title may be used to adjust the 2
annual increase under this subsection (c). [Repealed.] 3
* * * 4
(k) Executed standard offer contracts; transferability; allocation of benefits 5
and costs. With respect to executed contracts for standard offers under this 6
section: 7
* * * 8
(2) The Standard Offer Facilitator shall distribute the electricity 9
purchased to the Vermont retail electricity providers at the price paid to the 10
plant owners, allocated to the providers based on their pro rata share of total 11
Vermont retail kWh sales for the previous calendar year, and the Vermont 12
retail electricity providers shall accept and pay the Standard Offer Facilitator 13
for the electricity. However, during any given calendar year: 14
* * * 15
(B) A retail electricity provider that was relieved from the 16
requirements of this subdivision by the Commission on or before January 25, 17
2018, shall be exempt from the requirements of this subdivision in any year 18
that the Standard Offer Facilitator allocates electricity pursuant to this 19
subdivision if the retail electricity provider meets the following criteria: 20
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(ii) the retail electricity provider owns and retires an amount of 30 1
V.S.A. § 8005(a)(1) qualified energy environmental attributes that is not less 2
than the provider’s retail sales. [Repealed.] 3
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Sec. 4. 30 V.S.A. § 8009 is