A municipal electric utility may buy, sell, trade, or otherwise transfer a renewable energy certificate issued or recognized under Section 54-17-603.
Terms Used In Utah Code 10-19-202
Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
Municipal: means of or relating to a municipality. See Utah Code 10-1-104
Municipal electric utility: means any municipality that owns, operates, controls, or manages a facility that provides electric power for a retail customer, whether domestic, commercial, industrial, or otherwise. See Utah Code 10-19-102
Qualifying electricity: means electricity generated on or after January 1, 1995 from a renewable energy source if:
(a)
(i)
the renewable energy source is located within the geographic boundary of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council; or
(ii)
the qualifying electricity is delivered to the transmission system of a municipal electric utility or a delivery point designated by the municipal electric utility for the purpose of subsequent delivery to the municipal electric utility; and
(b)
the renewable energy attributes of the electricity are not traded, sold, transferred, or otherwise used to satisfy another state's renewable energy program. See Utah Code 10-19-102
Renewable energy certificate: means a certificate issued in accordance with the requirements of Sections 10-19-202 and 54-17-603. See Utah Code 10-19-102
Renewable energy source: means :
(a)
an electric generation facility or generation capability or upgrade that becomes operational on or after January 1, 1995 that derives its energy from one or more of the following:
(i)
wind energy;
(ii)
solar photovoltaic and solar thermal energy;
(iii)
wave, tidal, and ocean thermal energy;
(iv)
except for combustion of wood that has been treated with chemical preservatives such as creosote, pentachlorophenol or chromated copper arsenate, biomass and biomass byproducts, including:
(A)
organic waste;
(B)
forest or rangeland woody debris from harvesting or thinning conducted to improve forest or rangeland ecological health and to reduce wildfire risk;
(C)
agricultural residues;
(D)
dedicated energy crops; and
(E)
landfill gas or biogas produced from organic matter, wastewater, anaerobic digesters, or municipal solid waste;
(v)
geothermal energy located outside the state;
(vi)
waste gas and waste heat capture or recovery whether or not it is renewable, including methane gas from:
(A)
an abandoned coal mine; or
(B)
a coal degassing operation associated with a state-approved mine permit;
(vii)
efficiency upgrades to a hydroelectric facility, without regard to the date upon which the facility became operational, if the upgrades become operational on or after January 1, 1995;
(viii)
a compressed air energy storage process, if:
(A)
the process used to compress the air is a renewable energy source and the associated renewable energy certificates are retired for the purpose of the compressed air energy storage process; or
(B)
equivalent renewable energy certificates are obtained and retired for the purpose of the compressed air energy storage process; or
(ix)
municipal solid waste;
(b)
any of the following:
(i)
up to 50 average megawatts of electricity per year per municipal electric utility from a certified low-impact hydroelectric facility, without regard to the date upon which the facility becomes operational, if the facility is certified as a low-impact hydroelectric facility on or after January 1, 1995, by a national certification organization;
(ii)
geothermal energy if located within the state, without regard to the date upon which the facility becomes operational; and
(iii)
hydroelectric energy if located within the state, without regard to the date upon which the facility becomes operational;
(c)
hydrogen gas derived from any source of energy described in Subsection (11)(a) or (b);
(d)
if an electric generation facility employs multiple energy sources, that portion of the electricity generated that is attributable to energy sources described in Subsections (11)(a) through (c); and
(e)
any of the following located in the state and owned by a user of energy:
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
(2)
For the purpose of satisfying Subsection 10-19-201(1) and the issuance of a renewable energy certificate under Section 54-17-603:
(a)
a renewable energy source located in this state that derives its energy from solar photovoltaic and solar thermal energy shall be credited for 2.4 kilowatt-hours of qualifying electricity for each 1.0 kilowatt-hour generated; and
(b)
if two or more municipal electric utilities jointly own a renewable energy resource, each municipal electric utility shall be credited with 1.0 kilowatt-hour of qualifying electricity for 1.0 kilowatt-hour of the renewable energy resource allocated to the municipal electric utility by contract, unless the contract otherwise provides.
(3)
A renewable energy certificate:
(a)
may be used only once to satisfy Subsection 10-19-201(1);
(b)
may be used to satisfy Subsection 10-19-201(1) and the qualifying electricity on which the renewable energy certificate is based may be used to satisfy any federal renewable energy requirement; and
(c)
may not be used if it has been used to satisfy any other state’s renewable energy requirement.
