PRINTER'S NO. 23
No. 31 Special Session No. 1 of 2007-2008
INTRODUCED BY D. WHITE, RHOADES, WOZNIAK, M. WHITE, WONDERLING,
WAUGH AND BROWNE, NOVEMBER 2, 2007
REFERRED TO ENERGY POLICIES, NOVEMBER 2, 2007
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of November 30, 2004 (P.L.1672, No.213),
2 entitled, "An act providing for the sale of electric energy
3 generated from renewable and environmentally beneficial
4 sources, for the acquisition of electric energy generated
5 from renewable and environmentally beneficial sources by
6 electric distribution and supply companies and for the powers
7 and duties of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission,"
8 further providing for definitions.
9 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10 hereby enacts as follows:
11 Section 1. The definition "alternative energy sources" in
12 section 2 of the act of November 30, 2004 (P.L.1672, No.213),
13 known as the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, is
14 amended to read:
15 Section 2. Definitions.
16 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
17 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
18 context clearly indicates otherwise:
19 * * *
20 "Alternative energy sources." The term shall include the
1 following existing and new sources for the production of
2 electricity:
3 (1) Solar photovoltaic or other solar electric energy.
4 (2) Solar thermal energy.
5 (3) Wind power.
6 (4) Large-scale hydropower, which shall mean the
7 production of electric power by harnessing the hydroelectric
8 potential of moving water impoundments, including pumped
9 storage that does not meet the requirements of low-impact
10 hydropower under paragraph (5).
11 (5) Low-impact hydropower consisting of any technology
12 that produces electric power and that harnesses the
13 hydroelectric potential of moving water impoundments,
14 provided such incremental hydroelectric development:
15 (i) does not adversely change existing impacts to
16 aquatic systems;
17 (ii) meets the certification standards established
18 by the Low Impact Hydropower Institute and American
19 Rivers, Inc., or their successors;
20 (iii) provides an adequate water flow for protection
21 of aquatic life and for safe and effective fish passage;
22 (iv) protects against erosion; [and]
23 (v) protects cultural and historic resources[.];
24 (vi) has a nameplate capacity of 21 megawatts or
25 less; and
26 (vii) has a license issued by the Federal Energy
27 Regulatory Commission for the hydropower source on or
28 prior to January 1, 1984, and was held in whole or in
29 part by a municipality located wholly within this
30 Commonwealth or by an electric cooperative located wholly
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1 within this Commonwealth on July 1, 2007.
2 (6) Geothermal energy, which shall mean electricity
3 produced by extracting hot water or steam from geothermal
4 reserves in the earth's crust and supplied to steam turbines
5 that drive generators to produce electricity.
6 (7) Biomass energy, which shall mean the generation of
7 electricity utilizing the following:
8 (i) organic material from a plant that is grown for
9 the purpose of being used to produce electricity or is
10 protected by the Federal Conservation Reserve Program
11 (CRP) and provided further that crop production on CRP
12 lands does not prevent achievement of the water quality
13 protection, soil erosion prevention or wildlife
14 enhancement purposes for which the land was primarily set
15 aside; or
16 (ii) any solid nonhazardous, cellulosic waste
17 material that is segregated from other waste materials,
18 such as waste pallets, crates and landscape or right-of-
19 way tree trimmings or agricultural sources, including
20 orchard tree crops, vineyards, grain, legumes, sugar and
21 other crop by-products or residues.
22 (8) Biologically derived methane gas, which shall
23 include methane from the anaerobic digestion of organic
24 materials from yard waste, such as grass clippings and
25 leaves, food waste, animal waste and sewage sludge. The term
26 also includes landfill methane gas.
27 (9) Fuel cells, which shall mean any electrochemical
28 device that converts chemical energy in a hydrogen-rich fuel
29 directly into electricity, heat and water without combustion.
30 (10) Waste coal, which shall include the combustion of
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1 waste coal in facilities in which the waste coal was disposed
2 or abandoned prior to July 31, 1982, or disposed of
3 thereafter in a permitted coal refuse disposal site
4 regardless of when disposed of, and used to generate
5 electricity, or such other waste coal combustion meeting
6 alternate eligibility requirements established by regulation.
7 Facilities combusting waste coal shall use at a minimum a
8 combined fluidized bed boiler and be outfitted with a
9 limestone injection system and a fabric filter particulate
10 removal system. Alternative energy credits shall be
11 calculated based upon the proportion of waste coal utilized
12 to produce electricity at the facility.
13 (11) Coal mine methane, which shall mean methane gas
14 emitting from abandoned or working coal mines.
15 (12) Demand-side management consisting of the management
16 of customer consumption of electricity or the demand for
17 electricity through the implementation of:
18 (i) energy efficiency technologies, management
19 practices or other strategies in residential, commercial,
20 institutional or government customers that reduce
21 electricity consumption by those customers;
22 (ii) load management or demand response
23 technologies, management practices or other strategies in
24 residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and
25 government customers that shift electric load from
26 periods of higher demand to periods of lower demand; or
27 (iii) industrial by-product technologies consisting
28 of the use of a by-product from an industrial process,
29 including the reuse of energy from exhaust gases or other
30 manufacturing by-products that are used in the direct
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1 production of electricity at the facility of a customer.
2 (13) Distributed generation system, which shall mean the
3 small-scale power generation of electricity and useful
4 thermal energy.
5 * * *
6 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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