SENATE DOCKET, NO. 430        FILED ON: 1/16/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1851

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Anne M. Gobi

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to renewable energy portfolio standards.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 430        FILED ON: 1/16/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1851

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 1764 OF 2015-2016.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

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An Act relative to renewable energy portfolio standards.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Subsection (c) of section 11F of Chapter 25A, as amended by section 15 of chapter 209 of the acts of 2012, is hereby further amended by striking out paragraph (6) and inserting in place thereof, the following paragraph:-

(6) energy generated by new hydroelectric facilities, or incremental new energy from increased capacity or efficiency improvements at existing hydroelectric facilities; provided, however, that (i) each such new facility or increased capacity or efficiency at each such existing facility must meet appropriate and site-specific standards that address adequate and healthy river flows, water quality standards, fish passage and protection measures and mitigation and enhancement opportunities in the impacted watershed as determined by the department in consultation with relevant state and federal agencies having oversight and jurisdiction over hydropower facilities (“Environmental Standards”),  and in any case in which pursuant to action initiated with or by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) after January 1, 1992  the FERC either reviewed and approved the new facility or increased capacity or efficiency at an existing facility, or issued an order with respect to increased capacity or efficiency improvements to revise the authorized installed capacity at an existing facility, where the operation of such increased capacity or efficiency does not exceed the maximum discharge of the original turbine or turbines, then such new facility or increased capacity or efficiency at each such existing facility shall be deemed to have satisfied the Environmental Standards, defined above, and except as limited by the following sub-section (6) (ii), shall be certified as a Class I renewable energy generating source, without further review; (ii) only energy from new facilities having a capacity up to 30 megawatts or attributable to improvements that incrementally increase capacity or efficiency by up to 30 megawatts at an existing hydroelectric facility shall qualify; and (iii) no such facility shall involve pumped storage of water;  

SECTION 2. Subsection (d) of section 11F of chapter 25A, as amended by section 16 of chapter 209 of the acts of 2012, is hereby further amended by striking out paragraph (6) and inserting in place thereof, the following paragraph:-

(6) energy generated by existing hydroelectric facilities, provided that, (i) each such existing facility shall meet appropriate and site-specific standards that address adequate and healthy river flows, water quality standards, fish passage and protection measures and mitigation and enhancement opportunities in the impacted watershed as determined by the department in consultation with relevant state and federal agencies having oversight and jurisdiction over hydropower facilities (“Environmental Standards”), provided that: (a) in any case in which an existing facility  operates under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) jurisdiction pursuant to action initiated with or by the FERC after January 1, 1992, such existing facility shall be deemed to have satisfied the Environmental Standards, defined above, and except as  limited  by the following subsection 6 (iii), shall be certified as a Class II renewable energy generating source  without further review; or (b) in any case in which an existing facility, with FERC nameplate capacity greater than 1 MW,  operating under FERC jurisdiction, pursuant to action initiated with or by and approved by the FERC prior to January 1, 1992, the department may, by appropriate means, determine that such existing facility meets the Environmental Standards; (ii) existing, FERC regulated facilities, with FERC nameplate capacity of 1 MW or less shall be certified as Class II renewable energy generating sources, without further review of Environmental Standards, as defined above; and (iii) provided further, that only energy from existing facilities up to 7.5 megawatts shall be considered renewable energy and no such facility shall involve pumped storage of water;