| 2 | The Committee on Business Regulation recommends the following: |
| 3 |
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| 4 | Committee Substitute |
| 5 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 6 | A bill to be entitled |
| 7 | An act relating to renewable energy; creating s. 366.91, |
| 8 | F.S.; providing legislative findings; providing |
| 9 | definitions; requiring public utilities and certain |
| 10 | municipal electric utilities and rural electric |
| 11 | cooperatives to offer a purchase contract to producers of |
| 12 | renewable energy; providing requirements for such |
| 13 | contracts; providing for cost recovery; amending s. |
| 14 | 403.7061, F.S.; revising a permit requirement for a waste- |
| 15 | to-energy facility; encouraging specified applicants for a |
| 16 | landfill permit to consider construction of a waste-to- |
| 17 | energy facility; providing an effective date. |
| 18 |
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| 19 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 20 |
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| 21 | Section 1. Section 366.91, Florida Statutes, is created to |
| 22 | read: |
| 23 | 366.91 Renewable electricity.-- |
| 24 | (1) The Legislature finds that it is in the public |
| 25 | interest to promote the development of renewable electric |
| 26 | resources in this state. Renewable electric resources have the |
| 27 | potential to help diversify fuel types to meet Florida's growing |
| 28 | dependency on natural gas for electric production, minimize the |
| 29 | volatility of fuel costs, encourage investment within this |
| 30 | state, improve environmental conditions, and make Florida a |
| 31 | leader in new and innovative technologies. |
| 32 | (2) As used in this section, the term: |
| 33 | (a) "Biomass" means a power source that is comprised of, |
| 34 | but not limited to, combustible residues or gases from forest- |
| 35 | products manufacturing, agricultural and orchard crops, waste |
| 36 | products from livestock and poultry operations and food |
| 37 | processing, urban wood waste, municipal solid waste, municipal |
| 38 | liquid waste treatment operations, and landfill gas. |
| 39 | (b) "Renewable energy" means electrical energy produced |
| 40 | from any method or process that uses one or more of the |
| 41 | following fuels or energy sources: hydrogen produced from |
| 42 | sources other than fossil fuels, biomass, solar energy, |
| 43 | geothermal energy, wind energy, ocean energy, hydroelectric |
| 44 | power, municipal solid waste, municipal liquid waste treatment |
| 45 | operations, or landfill gas. |
| 46 | (3) On or before January 1, 2005, each public utility must |
| 47 | continuously offer a purchase contract to producers of renewable |
| 48 | energy containing payment provisions for energy and capacity, if |
| 49 | capacity payments are appropriate, which are based upon the |
| 50 | utility's full avoided costs, as defined in s. 366.051. Each |
| 51 | contract must provide a contract term of at least 10 years. |
| 52 | Prudent and reasonable costs associated with a renewable energy |
| 53 | contract shall be recovered from the ratepayers of the |
| 54 | contracting utility, without differentiation among customer |
| 55 | classes, through the appropriate cost-recovery clause mechanism |
| 56 | administered by the commission. |
| 57 | (4) On or before January 1, 2005, each municipal electric |
| 58 | utility and rural electric cooperative whose annual sales as of |
| 59 | July 1, 1993, to retail customers were greater than 2,000 |
| 60 | gigawatt hours must continuously offer a purchase contract to |
| 61 | producers of renewable energy containing payment provisions for |
| 62 | energy and capacity, if capacity payments are appropriate, which |
| 63 | are based upon the utility's or cooperative's full avoided |
| 64 | costs, as determined by the governing body of the municipal |
| 65 | utility or cooperative. Each contract must provide a contract |
| 66 | term of at least 10 years. |
| 67 | (5) A contracting producer of renewable energy must pay |
| 68 | the actual costs of its interconnection with the transmission |
| 69 | grid or distribution system. |
| 70 | Section 2. Paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of section |
| 71 | 403.7061, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 72 | 403.7061 Requirements for review of new waste-to-energy |
| 73 | facility capacity by the Department of Environmental |
| 74 | Protection.-- |
| 75 | (3) An applicant must provide reasonable assurance that |
| 76 | the construction of a new waste-to-energy facility or the |
| 77 | expansion of an existing waste-to-energy facility will comply |
| 78 | with the following subsections: |
| 79 | (c) The county in which the facility is located has |
| 80 | implemented a solid waste management and recycling program that |
| 81 | is designed to achieve the waste reduction goal set forth in s. |
| 82 | 403.706(4). The county in which the facility is located will |
| 83 | achieve the 30-percent waste reduction goal set forth in s. |
| 84 | 403.706(4) by the time the facility begins operation. For the |
| 85 | purposes of this section, the provisions of s. 403.706(4)(c) for |
| 86 | counties with populations of 75,000 or less do not apply. |
| 87 | Section 3. Requirements relating to solid waste disposal |
| 88 | facility permitting.--Local government applicants for a permit |
| 89 | to construct or expand a Class I landfill are encouraged to |
| 90 | consider construction of a waste-to-energy facility as an |
| 91 | alternative to additional landfill space. |
| 92 | Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2004. |