HB 77

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to renewable energy; creating s. 366.91,
3	F.S.; providing legislative findings; providing
4	definitions; requiring public utilities, municipal
5	utilities, and rural electric cooperatives to offer a
6	purchase contract to producers of renewable energy;
7	requiring the Florida Public Service Commission to
8	establish requirements relating to the purchase of
9	capacity and energy by public utilities from renewable
10	energy producers; authorizing the commission to adopt
11	rules; providing requirements for contracts; requiring
12	that a producer pay the costs for interconnection;
13	amending s. 366.11, F.S.; specifying that requirements for
14	the purchase of renewable energy apply to municipal
15	utilities; amending s. 403.7061, F.S.; revising a permit
16	requirement for a waste-to-energy facility; encouraging
17	specified applicants for a landfill permit to consider
18	construction of a waste-to-energy facility; providing an
19	effective date.
20
21	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
22
23	Section 1.  Section 366.91, Florida Statutes, is created to
24	read:
25	366.91  Renewable energy.--
26	(1)  The Legislature finds that it is in the public
27	interest to promote the development of renewable energy
28	resources in this state. Renewable energy resources have the
29	potential to help diversify fuel types to meet Florida's growing
30	dependency on natural gas for electric production, minimize the
31	volatility of fuel costs, encourage investment within the state,
32	improve environmental conditions, and make Florida a leader in
33	new and innovative technologies.
34	(2)  As used in this section, the term:
35	(a)  "Biomass" means a power source that is comprised of,
36	but not limited to, combustible residues or gases from forest-
37	products manufacturing, agricultural and orchard crops, waste
38	products from livestock and poultry operations and food
39	processing, urban wood waste, municipal solid waste, municipal
40	liquid waste treatment operations, and landfill gas.
41	(b)  "Renewable energy" means electrical energy produced
42	from a method that uses one or more of the following fuels or
43	energy sources: hydrogen produced from sources other than fossil
44	fuels, biomass, solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy,
45	ocean energy, and hydroelectric power. The term includes the
46	alternative energy resource, waste heat, from sulfuric acid
47	manufacturing operations.
48	(3)  On or before January 1, 2006, each public utility must
49	continuously offer a purchase contract to producers of renewable
50	energy. The commission shall establish requirements relating to
51	the purchase of capacity and energy by public utilities from
52	renewable energy producers and may adopt rules to administer
53	this section. The contract shall contain payment provisions for
54	energy and capacity which are based upon the utility's full
55	avoided costs, as defined in s. 366.051; however, capacity
56	payments are not required if, due to the operational
57	characteristics of the renewable energy generator or the
58	anticipated peak and off-peak availability and capacity factor
59	of the utility's avoided unit, the producer is unlikely to
60	provide any capacity value to the utility or the electric grid
61	during the contract term. Each contract must provide a contract
62	term of at least 10 years. Prudent and reasonable costs
63	associated with a renewable energy contract shall be recovered
64	from the ratepayers of the contracting utility, without
65	differentiation among customer classes, through the appropriate
66	cost-recovery clause mechanism administered by the commission.
67	(4)  On or before January 1, 2006, each municipal electric
68	utility and rural electric cooperative whose annual sales, as of
69	July 1, 1993, to retail customers were greater than 2,000
70	gigawatt hours must continuously offer a purchase contract to
71	producers of renewable energy containing payment provisions for
72	energy and capacity which are based upon the utility's or
73	cooperative's full avoided costs, as determined by the governing
74	body of the municipal utility or cooperative; however, capacity
75	payments are not required if, due to the operational
76	characteristics of the renewable energy generator or the
77	anticipated peak and off-peak availability and capacity factor
78	of the utility's avoided unit, the producer is unlikely to
79	provide any capacity value to the utility or the electric grid
80	during the contract term. Each contract must provide a contract
81	term of at least 10 years.
82	(5)  A contracting producer of renewable energy must pay
83	the actual costs of its interconnection with the transmission
84	grid or distribution system.
85	Section 2.  Subsection (1) of section 366.11, Florida
86	Statutes, is amended to read:
87	366.11  Certain exemptions.--
88	(1)  No provision of this chapter shall apply in any
89	manner, other than as specified in ss. 366.04, 366.05(7) and
90	(8), 366.051, 366.055, 366.093, 366.095, 366.14, and 366.80-
91	366.85, and 366.91, to utilities owned and operated by
92	municipalities, whether within or without any municipality, or
93	by cooperatives organized and existing under the Rural Electric
94	Cooperative Law of the state, or to the sale of electricity,
95	manufactured gas, or natural gas at wholesale by any public
96	utility to, and the purchase by, any municipality or cooperative
97	under and pursuant to any contracts now in effect or which may
98	be entered into in the future, when such municipality or
99	cooperative is engaged in the sale and distribution of
100	electricity or manufactured or natural gas, or to the rates
101	provided for in such contracts.
102	Section 3.  Section 403.7061, Florida Statutes, is amended
103	to read:
104	403.7061  Requirements for review of new waste-to-energy
105	facility capacity by the Department of Environmental
106	Protection.--
107	(1)  The Legislature recognizes the need to use an
108	integrated approach to municipal solid waste management.
109	Accordingly, the solid waste management legislation adopted in
110	1988 was guided by policies intended to foster integrated solid
111	waste management by using waste reduction, recycling, waste-to-
112	energy facilities, and landfills. Progress is being made in the
113	state using this integrated approach to municipal solid waste
114	management, and this approach should be continued. Waste-to-
115	energy facilities will continue to be an integral part of the
116	state's solid waste management practices. However, the state is
117	committed to achieving its recycling and waste reduction goals
118	and must ensure that waste-to-energy facilities are fully
119	integrated with the state's waste management goals. Therefore,
120	the Legislature finds that the department should evaluate
121	applications for waste-to-energy facilities in accordance with
122	the new criteria in subsection (3) to confirm that the
123	facilities are part of an integrated waste management plan.
124	(2)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of state law, the
125	department shall not issue a construction permit or
126	certification to build a waste-to-energy facility or expand an
127	existing waste-to-energy facility unless the facility meets the
128	requirements set forth in subsection (3). Any construction
129	permit issued by the department between January 1, 1993, and May
130	12, 1993, which does not address these new requirements shall be
131	invalid. These new requirements do not apply to the issuance of
132	permits or permit modifications to retrofit existing facilities
133	with new or improved pollution control equipment to comply with
134	state or federal law. The department shall initiate rulemaking
135	to incorporate the criteria in subsection (3) into its permit
136	review process.
137	(3)  An applicant must provide reasonable assurance that
138	the construction of a new waste-to-energy facility or the
139	expansion of an existing waste-to-energy facility will comply
140	with the following criteria subsections:
141	(a)  The facility is a necessary part of the local
142	government's integrated solid waste management program in the
143	jurisdiction where the facility is located and cannot be avoided
144	through feasible and practical efforts to use recycling or waste
145	reduction.
146	(b)  The use of capacity at existing waste-to-energy
147	facilities within reasonable transportation distance of the
148	proposed facility must have been evaluated and found not to be
149	economically feasible when compared to the use of the proposed
150	facility for the expected life of the proposed facility. This
151	paragraph does not apply to:
152	1.  Applications to build or expand waste-to-energy
153	facilities received by the department before March 1, 1993, or
154	amendments to such applications that do not increase combustion
155	capacity beyond that requested as of March 1, 1993; or
156	2.  Any modification to waste-to-energy facility
157	construction or operating permits or certifications or
158	conditions thereto, including certifications under ss. 403.501-
159	403.518, that do not increase combustion capacity above that
160	amount applied for before March 1, 1993.
161	(c)  The county in which the facility is located has
162	implemented and maintains a solid waste management and recycling
163	program that is designed to will achieve the 30-percent waste
164	reduction goal set forth in s. 403.706(4) by the time the
165	facility begins operation. For the purposes of this section, the
166	provisions of s. 403.706(4)(c) for counties having with
167	populations of 100,000 75,000 or fewer less do not apply.
168	(d)  The local government in which the facility is located
169	has implemented a mulching, composting, or other waste reduction
170	program for yard trash.
171	(e)  The local governments served by the facility will have
172	implemented or participated in a separation program designed to
173	remove small-quantity generator and household hazardous waste,
174	mercury containing devices, and mercuric-oxide batteries from
175	the waste stream prior to incineration, by the time the facility
176	begins operation.
177	(f)  The local government in which the facility is located
178	has implemented a program to procure products or materials with
179	recycled content, pursuant to s. 403.7065.
180	(g)  A program will exist in the local government in which
181	the facility is located for collecting and recycling recovered
182	material from the institutional, commercial, and industrial
183	sectors by the time the facility begins operation.
184	(h)  The facility will be in compliance with applicable
185	local ordinances and with the approved state and local
186	comprehensive plans required by chapter 163.
187	(i)  The facility is in substantial compliance with its
188	permit, conditions of certification, and any agreements or
189	orders resulting from environmental enforcement actions by state
190	agencies.
191	(4)  For the purposes of this section, the term "waste-to-
192	energy facility" means a facility that uses an enclosed device
193	using controlled combustion to thermally break down solid,
194	liquid, or gaseous combustible solid waste to an ash residue
195	that contains little or no combustible material and that
196	produces electricity, steam, or other energy as a result. The
197	term does not include facilities that primarily burn fuels other
198	than solid waste even if such facilities also burn some solid
199	waste as a fuel supplement. The term also does not include
200	facilities that burn vegetative, agricultural, or silvicultural
201	wastes, bagasse, clean dry wood, methane or other landfill gas,
202	wood fuel derived from construction or demolition debris, or
203	waste tires, alone or in combination with fossil fuels.
204	Section 4.  Requirements relating to solid waste disposal
205	facility permitting.--Local government applicants for a permit
206	to construct or expand a Class I landfill are encouraged to
207	consider construction of a waste-to-energy facility as an
208	alternative to additional landfill space.
209	Section 5.  This act shall take effect October 1, 2005.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.