Legislative Session number- 84

Bill Name: SF1368

3E Relating to energy

ARTICLE 1 - TRANSMISSION COMPANIES

Regulating electric
transmission companies, defining transmission company; authorizing and providing
for the public utilities commission to approve tariff mechanisms for the
automatic adjustment of charges for the Minnesota jurisdictional costs of new
transmission facilities separately filed and reviewed and approved by the PUC or
certified as priority projects, authorizing public utilities to file annual rate
adjustments to be applied to customer bills paid under approved tariffs,
providing for PUC approval; authorizing public utility owners of transmission
facilities to transfer control or ownership of assets to transmission companies
subject to federal energy regulatory commission jurisdiction under certain
conditions, providing for review and approval, authorizing transfers by
municipal utilities upon governing body approval; modifying the definition of a
large energy facility relating to high voltage transmission lines for
certificate of need purposes and modifying certain requirements for PUC
certification of high voltage transmission lines; requiring certificate of need
application fees to be applied to the total costs of completion of the
evaluation and authorizing the recovery of costs exceeding the application fee
from the applicant; expanding high voltage transmission line project reporting
requirements for PUC list development purposes and certain merger and
consolidation restrictions to transmission companies; authorizing the PUC and
the department of commerce to charge transmission companies for expenses
incurred in the review and disposition of proceedings and for certain regulatory
expenses; subjecting the companies to certain electric transmission line
preventative maintenance requirements; requiring the legislative electric energy
task force to convene a stakeholder group to explore the certification and
routing of high voltage transmission lines for increased efficiency and
effectiveness purposes, requiring a task force report to the legislature by a
certain date

ARTICLE 2 - C BED AND RENEWABLE TRANSMISSION

Establishing a
community based energy development tariff to optimize local, regional and state
benefits from wind energy development and to facilitate development of community
based wind energy projects throughout the state, specifying certain tariff rate
requirements and providing for public utilities commission approval; creating a
priority for C-BED projects for renewable energy objectives purposes and
providing for property owner participation; providing for the negotiation and
development of certain agreements or joint venture projects, specifying certain
PUC approval requirements; expanding the authority of the PUC to approve or
disapprove power purchase contracts, investments or
expenditures relating to the
renewable energy objectives and temporarily requiring the PUC certification of
priority electric transmission projects meeting renewable energy objectives;
exempting certain wind energy conversion systems from certificate of need
requirements; requiring the commissioner of commerce to encourage cost effective
renewable energy developments and to compile and maintain information relating
to existing and potential renewable energy developments and resources for
determination of need for large energy facilities and for review of utility
integrated resource plans, requiring electric utilities adding generation to
supply portfolios to provide the commissioner with a notice of intent; requiring
the PUC to order electric utilities to participate in a statewide wind
integration study

ARTICLE 3 - ROUTING AND SITING AUTHORITY
TRANSFER

Transferring power plant siting and routing, wind energy conversion
system and pipeline authority from the environmental quality board (EQB) to the
public utilities commission with technical expertise and other assistance from
the department of commerce; providing for participation by the commissioner of
agriculture in routings and sitings under certain conditions; authorizing the
PUC to adopt rules setting siting and routing application fees, requiring
payment of the fees to the commissioner of commerce; modifying the requirement
for joint hearings on siting and need during certificate of need application
procedures; extending the time limit for approval or denial of certificates of
need; transferring the position of reliability administrator for energy from the
department of commerce to the PUC, modifying certain responsibilities and
extending the duration of the position; specifying certain term change
instructions to the revisor of statutes

ARTICLE 4 - ENERGY ASSISTANCE TECHNICAL
CORRECTIONS

Correcting statutory authority for energy assistance programs
previously transferred between agencies; clarifying the treatment of data on
individuals applying for benefits or services under energy assistance programs;
eliminating certain obsolete language relating to oil overcharge money;
correcting certain references under certain loan authority of the housing
finance agency (HFA); recodifying certain energy assistance provisions

ARTICLE
5 - WOODY BIOMASS MANDATE PROJECT

Expanding the definition of farm grown closed
loop biomass under the biomass power mandate to sustainably managed woody
biomass, defining sustainably managed woody biomass; regulating a certain
municipal waste to energy project, specifying certain requirements for the
harvesting of woody biomass, requiring annual preparation of fuel plans and
regulating the wood procurement process, requiring adoption by a certain date of
guidelines or best management practices
for sustainably managed woody biomass by
the department of natural resources (DNR) for management and maintenance of
brushland and open land habitat and the by forest resources council for logging
slash, partially exempting the project from certain farm grown closed loop
biomass use requirements and encouraging the university of Minnesota initiative
for renewable energy and the environment to solicit and fund high quality
research projects to develop and consolidate scientific information relating to
the removal of woody biomass from forest and brush lands; modifying certain
conditions and the procedure for public utilities commission (PUC) approval of
pending requests for biomass projects, specifying certain power purchase
agreement requirements

ARTICLE 6 - E-FILING

Establishing the department of
commerce e filing (e-filing) account to be used to establish an e-filing system
allowing documents to be filed with the public utilities commission (PUC) and
retrieved via the internet; requiring commissioner of commerce onetime
assessments of regulated utilities, telephone companies and telecommunications
carriers to cover implementation costs; requiring the system to be operational
by a certain date

ARTICLE 7 - CIP TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS

Making technical
modifications to certain energy conservation improvement program provisions;
modifying the frequency requirement for filing by cities or cooperative electric
associations with the commissioner of commerce overviews of conservation
improvement plans

ARTICLE 8 - POWER QUALITY ZONES

Requiring the public
utilities commission to ensure the consideration of opportunities for the
installation of distributed generation in proceedings relating to renewable
energy resource planning, the state transmission plan or large energy facility
certificates of need; authorizing the public utilities commission upon joint
petition of a public utility and customers within the service territory to
establish power quality zones for installation of additional or upgraded
components of the electric distribution infrastructure to decrease the risk of
power outages, requiring utility and customer approval of the installation and
the financial recovery plan before creation of the zones and specifying certain
customer notice requirements; authorizing the collection of tariffs and
surcharges from customers in the zones to pay installation costs

ARTICLE 9 -
BIOGAS INCENTIVE PAYMENTS

Expanding the definition of qualified on farm biogas
recovery facility under the renewable energy production incentive

ARTICLE 10 -
GAS INFRASTRUCTURE COST

Providing for temporary recovery of certain
infrastructure replacement costs separate from a general rate increase by gas
utilities, defining gas utility; authorizing the public utilities commission to
approve gas utility petitions for rate schedules to recover gas utility
infrastructure costs, specifying certain filing requirements and authorizing PUC
implementation and administration orders and rules; requiring the department of
commerce to review the operation and impact of the GUIC recovery mechanism on
ratepayers and utilities and report findings and recommendations to the
legislature

ARTICLE 11 - EMINENT DOMAIN LANDOWNER COMPENSATION

Requiring the
legislative electric energy task force to convene a landowner payments working
group by a certain date to research alternative methods of remunerating owners
of land with high voltage transmission lines constructed through eminent domain,
specifying certain membership representation requirements and duties, limiting
working group expenses for reimbursement purposes and requiring a report to the
task force by a certain date

ARTICLE 12 - TECHNICAL CORRECTION

Providing for
the adjustment of power purchase agreements to reflect production tax
payments

ARTICLE 13 - HYDROGEN

Requiring the department of administration to
identify opportunities for demonstrating the use of hydrogen fuel cells within
state owned facilities, vehicle fleets and operations and specifying certain
purchase and demonstration requirements in furtherance of certain objectives;
requiring and providing for periodic department of commerce reports to the
legislature on proposed pilot projects contributing to the realization of the
state hydrogen economy goal, requiring the department to consider certain
priorities in developing the proposed slate of pilot projects and the projects
to meet certain criteria; authorizing the commissioner of commerce to accept and
expend federal funds and participate in projects to design, site and construct
multifuel hydrogen fueling stations linking urban centers along key trade
corridors across certain jurisdictions, specifying certain requirements of the
stations; requiring public research and higher education institutions to work
together and with similar institutions in the region to establish an upper
midwest energy research and education partnership, requiring the partnership to
include an advisory committee to help focus research and education efforts on
the most critical issues; requiring commissioner assessments through the
reliability administrator to match federal and private investments in multifuel
hydrogen refueling stations in Moorhead, Alexandria and the Twin Cities, limit;
encouraging the board of trustees of the Minnesota state colleges and
universities (MnSCU) to work with the upper Midwest hydrogen initiative and
others to develop and implement hydrogen and fuel cell curricula and training
programs for incorporation into existing courses and disciplines affected by the
technologies

ARTICLE 14 - SOY DIESEL

Allocating money to the agricultural
utilization research institute for grants to certain eligible applicants for
projects using soy diesel generators to provide backup power for certain smaller
wind energy conversion systems, requiring distribution of the grants over a
certain number of years, defining soy diesel

ARTICLE 15 - BIODIESEL FUEL FOR
HOME HEATING

Requiring the reliability administrator in the department of
commerce to perform a comprehensive technical and economic analysis of the
benefits of using biodiesel fuel or biodiesel fuel blends as a home heating fuel
and report the results to the legislature by a certain date

ARTICLE 16 - CITY
OF ALEXANDRIA JOINT VENTURE AUTHORITY

Expanding the joint venture authority of
the city of Alexandria for certain
telecommunications services purposes to the
Gardonville telephone cooperative
(je, ja)