| 1 | The Environmental Regulation Committee recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to renewable energy; creating s. 366.91, |
| 7 | F.S.; providing legislative findings; providing |
| 8 | definitions; requiring public utilities, municipal |
| 9 | electric utilities, and rural electric cooperatives to |
| 10 | offer a purchase contract to producers of renewable |
| 11 | energy; providing requirements for such contracts; |
| 12 | requiring that a producer pay the costs for |
| 13 | interconnection; amending s. 366.11, F.S.; specifying that |
| 14 | requirements for the purchase of renewable energy apply to |
| 15 | certain utilities; amending s. 403.7061, F.S.; revising a |
| 16 | permit requirement for a waste-to-energy facility; |
| 17 | revising an exemption for certain counties; encouraging |
| 18 | specified applicants for a landfill permit to consider |
| 19 | construction of a waste-to-energy facility; providing an |
| 20 | effective date. |
| 21 |
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| 22 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 23 |
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| 24 | Section 1. Section 366.91, Florida Statutes, is created to |
| 25 | read: |
| 26 | 366.91 Renewable energy.-- |
| 27 | (1) The Legislature finds that it is in the public |
| 28 | interest to promote the development of renewable energy |
| 29 | resources in this state. Renewable energy resources have the |
| 30 | potential to help diversify fuel types to meet the state's |
| 31 | growing dependency on natural gas for electric production, |
| 32 | minimize the volatility of fuel costs, encourage investment |
| 33 | within the state, improve environmental conditions, and make |
| 34 | Florida a leader in new and innovative technologies. |
| 35 | (2) As used in this section, the term: |
| 36 | (a) "Biomass" means a power source composed of combustible |
| 37 | residues or gases that are derived from organic matter drawn |
| 38 | from sources other than fossil fuels, which sources are |
| 39 | available on a renewable basis. The term includes, but is not |
| 40 | limited to, a power source from forest-products manufacturing; |
| 41 | agricultural and orchard crops; waste products from livestock |
| 42 | operations, poultry operations, or food processing; urban wood |
| 43 | waste; municipal solid waste; municipal liquid waste treatment |
| 44 | operations; or landfill gas. |
| 45 | (b) "Renewable energy" means electrical energy produced |
| 46 | from a method that uses one or more of the following fuels or |
| 47 | energy sources: biomass, solar energy, geothermal energy, wind |
| 48 | energy, ocean energy, and hydroelectric power. |
| 49 | (3) On or before January 1, 2006, each public utility must |
| 50 | continuously offer a purchase contract to producers of renewable |
| 51 | energy containing payment provisions for energy and capacity |
| 52 | that are based upon the utility's full avoided costs, as defined |
| 53 | in s. 366.051; however, capacity payments shall not be required |
| 54 | if, due to the operational characteristics of the renewable |
| 55 | energy generator or the anticipated peak and off-peak |
| 56 | availability and capacity factor of the utility's avoided unit, |
| 57 | it is unlikely to provide any capacity value to the utility or |
| 58 | the electric grid during the contract term. Each contract must |
| 59 | provide a contract term of at least 10 years. Prudent and |
| 60 | reasonable costs associated with a renewable energy contract |
| 61 | shall be recovered from the ratepayers of the contracting |
| 62 | utility, without differentiation among customer classes, through |
| 63 | the appropriate cost-recovery clause mechanism administered by |
| 64 | the commission. |
| 65 | (4) On or before January 1, 2006, each municipal electric |
| 66 | utility and rural electric cooperative whose annual sales, as of |
| 67 | July 1, 1993, to retail customers were greater than 2,000 |
| 68 | gigawatt hours must continuously offer a purchase contract to |
| 69 | producers of renewable energy containing payment provisions for |
| 70 | energy and capacity that are based upon the utility's or |
| 71 | cooperative's full avoided costs, as determined by the governing |
| 72 | body of the municipal utility or cooperative; however, capacity |
| 73 | payments shall not be required if, due to the operational |
| 74 | characteristics of the renewable energy generator or the |
| 75 | anticipated peak and off-peak availability and capacity factor |
| 76 | of the utility's avoided unit, it is unlikely to provide any |
| 77 | capacity value to the utility or the electric grid during the |
| 78 | contract term. Each contract must provide a contract term of at |
| 79 | least 10 years. |
| 80 | (5) A contracting producer of renewable energy must pay |
| 81 | the actual costs of its interconnection with the transmission |
| 82 | grid or distribution system. |
| 83 | Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 366.11, Florida |
| 84 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 85 | 366.11 Certain exemptions.-- |
| 86 | (1) No provision of this chapter shall apply in any |
| 87 | manner, other than as specified in ss. 366.04, 366.05(7) and |
| 88 | (8), 366.051, 366.055, 366.093, 366.095, 366.14, and 366.80- |
| 89 | 366.85, and 366.91, to utilities owned and operated by |
| 90 | municipalities, whether within or without any municipality, or |
| 91 | by cooperatives organized and existing under the Rural Electric |
| 92 | Cooperative Law of the state, or to the sale of electricity, |
| 93 | manufactured gas, or natural gas at wholesale by any public |
| 94 | utility to, and the purchase by, any municipality or cooperative |
| 95 | under and pursuant to any contracts now in effect or which may |
| 96 | be entered into in the future, when such municipality or |
| 97 | cooperative is engaged in the sale and distribution of |
| 98 | electricity or manufactured or natural gas, or to the rates |
| 99 | provided for in such contracts. |
| 100 | Section 3. Subsection (3) of section 403.7061, Florida |
| 101 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 102 | 403.7061 Requirements for review of new waste-to-energy |
| 103 | facility capacity by the Department of Environmental |
| 104 | Protection.-- |
| 105 | (3) An applicant must provide reasonable assurance that |
| 106 | the construction of a new waste-to-energy facility or the |
| 107 | expansion of an existing waste-to-energy facility will comply |
| 108 | with the following criteria subsections: |
| 109 | (a) The facility is a necessary part of the local |
| 110 | government's integrated solid waste management program in the |
| 111 | jurisdiction where the facility is located and cannot be avoided |
| 112 | through feasible and practical efforts to use recycling or waste |
| 113 | reduction. |
| 114 | (b) The use of capacity at existing waste-to-energy |
| 115 | facilities within reasonable transportation distance of the |
| 116 | proposed facility must have been evaluated and found not to be |
| 117 | economically feasible when compared to the use of the proposed |
| 118 | facility for the expected life of the proposed facility. This |
| 119 | paragraph does not apply to: |
| 120 | 1. Applications to build or expand waste-to-energy |
| 121 | facilities received by the department before March 1, 1993, or |
| 122 | amendments to such applications that do not increase combustion |
| 123 | capacity beyond that requested as of March 1, 1993; or |
| 124 | 2. Any modification to waste-to-energy facility |
| 125 | construction or operating permits or certifications or |
| 126 | conditions thereto, including certifications under ss. 403.501- |
| 127 | 403.518, that do not increase combustion capacity above that |
| 128 | amount applied for before March 1, 1993. |
| 129 | (c) The county in which the facility is located has |
| 130 | implemented and maintains a solid waste management and recycling |
| 131 | program that is designed to will achieve the 30-percent waste |
| 132 | reduction goal set forth in s. 403.706(4) by the time the |
| 133 | facility begins operation. For the purposes of this section, the |
| 134 | provisions of s. 403.706(4)(c) for counties with populations of |
| 135 | 100,000 75,000 or less do not apply. |
| 136 | (d) The local government in which the facility is located |
| 137 | has implemented a mulching, composting, or other waste reduction |
| 138 | program for yard trash. |
| 139 | (e) The local governments served by the facility will have |
| 140 | implemented or participated in a separation program designed to |
| 141 | remove small-quantity generator and household hazardous waste, |
| 142 | mercury containing devices, and mercuric-oxide batteries from |
| 143 | the waste stream prior to incineration, by the time the facility |
| 144 | begins operation. |
| 145 | (f) The local government in which the facility is located |
| 146 | has implemented a program to procure products or materials with |
| 147 | recycled content, pursuant to s. 403.7065. |
| 148 | (g) A program will exist in the local government in which |
| 149 | the facility is located for collecting and recycling recovered |
| 150 | material from the institutional, commercial, and industrial |
| 151 | sectors by the time the facility begins operation. |
| 152 | (h) The facility will be in compliance with applicable |
| 153 | local ordinances and with the approved state and local |
| 154 | comprehensive plans required by chapter 163. |
| 155 | (i) The facility is in substantial compliance with its |
| 156 | permit, conditions of certification, and any agreements or |
| 157 | orders resulting from environmental enforcement actions by state |
| 158 | agencies. |
| 159 | (4) For the purposes of this section, the term "waste-to- |
| 160 | energy facility" means a facility that uses an enclosed device |
| 161 | using controlled combustion to thermally break down solid, |
| 162 | liquid, or gaseous combustible solid waste to an ash residue |
| 163 | that contains little or no combustible material and that |
| 164 | produces electricity, steam, or other energy as a result. The |
| 165 | term does not include facilities that primarily burn fuels other |
| 166 | than solid waste even if such facilities also burn some solid |
| 167 | waste as a fuel supplement. The term also does not include |
| 168 | facilities that burn vegetative, agricultural, or silvicultural |
| 169 | wastes, bagasse, clean dry wood, methane or other landfill gas, |
| 170 | wood fuel derived from construction or demolition debris, or |
| 171 | waste tires, alone or in combination with fossil fuels. |
| 172 | Section 4. Requirements relating to solid waste disposal |
| 173 | facility permitting.--Local government applicants for a permit |
| 174 | to construct or expand a Class I landfill are encouraged to |
| 175 | consider construction of a waste-to-energy facility as an |
| 176 | alternative to additional landfill space. |
| 177 | Section 5. This act shall take effect October 1, 2005. |