HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3054        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2863

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Thomas A. Golden, Jr. and Anne M. Gobi

_________________

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 greenhouse gas emissions standards for municipal lighting plants, for the purpose of promoting the Commonwealth’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while acknowledging and preserving the statutory scheme of chapter 164 which places municipal lighting plant operations, finances, and rates under local control.

_______________

PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3054        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2863

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

An Act relative to greenhouse gas emissions standards for municipal lighting plants, for the purpose of promoting the Commonwealth’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while acknowledging and preserving the statutory scheme of chapter 164 which places municipal lighting plant operations, finances, and rates under local control.

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

Chapter 25A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 11F3/4.  (a) To assist in ensuring that the commonwealth’s greenhouse gas emissions goals are achieved each municipal lighting plant shall establish a greenhouse gas emissions standard for such municipal lighting plant which shall be known as the “Municipal Lighting Plant GGES.”

(b) Subject to subsection (f) hereof, the Municipal Lighting Plant GGES shall set the minimum percentage of non-carbon emitting energy sold by each municipal lighting plant to all retail end-user customers purchasing electricity pursuant to rates established pursuant to section 58 of chapter 164 as follows: (1) seven percent by 2021; (2) forty percent by 2030; (3) sixty percent by 2040; and (4) eighty percent by 2050.

(c) In satisfying the minimum percentages set forth in subsection (b) hereof, municipal lighting plants may either purchase or self-generate non-carbon emitting energy.  Energy from resources using the types of technology set forth in subsection (d)(1) below, acquired via ownership interest or purchase pursuant to contracts executed prior to the effective date of this act, regardless of whether the renewable energy credits associated therewith have been sold, retired, claimed or otherwise represented by another party as part of electrical energy output or sales or used to satisfy obligation in jurisdictions other than the commonwealth, shall qualify in calculating the minimum percentages contained in subsection (b) after the effective date of this act.

(d) For the purposes of this statute, “non- carbon emitting” shall be defined as: 

(1) energy from facilities using the following generation technologies, but only to the extent that any renewable energy credits associated therewith have not been sold, retired, claimed or otherwise represented by another party as part of electrical energy output or sales or used to satisfy obligations in jurisdictions other than the commonwealth: (i) solar photovoltaic; (ii) solar thermal electric; (iii) hydroelectric; (iv) nuclear; (v) marine or hydrokinetic energy; (vi) geothermal energy; (vii) landfill methane; (viii) anaerobic digester gas; (ix) biomass fuel; (x) wind energy; and (xi) any other generation qualifying for Renewable Portfolio Standards under section 11F of chapter 25A or department of environmental protection’s Clean Energy Standard regulation under 310 C.M.R. 7.75 ; or

(2) generation that has net lifecycle GHG emissions, over a twenty-year life cycle, that yield at least a fifty percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of useful energy relative to the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from the aggregate use of the operation of a new combined cycle natural gas electric generating facility using the most efficient commercially available technology as of the date of the statement of qualification application to the department of environmental protection for the portion of electricity delivered by the generation unit; or

(3) clean energy credits such as renewable energy certificates derived from each megawatt hour of generation from a resource, that are produced, documented or classified in the NEPOOL GIS according to their ability to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards requirements in the commonwealth or any New England state that have not otherwise been, nor will be, sold, retired, claimed or represented as part of electrical energy output or sales, or used to satisfy obligations in jurisdictions other than the commonwealth; or

(4) generation from resources otherwise determined by the department to qualify as non -carbon emitting hereunder; or

(5) any combination of the foregoing.

(e) A municipal lighting plant shall file, using a form and by the date, specified by the department, demonstrating compliance with subsection (b) hereof.   If a municipal lighting plant fails to comply with the requirements of subsection (b), it shall make an one-time alternative compliance payment, to be known as the “Municipal Lighting Plant ACP” for the year of non-compliance, and on the anniversary of each year that said non-compliance continues thereafter, in the amount 0.25 times the Renewable Portfolio Standard ACP set forth in the department’s regulations at 225 C.M.R. 14.00 et seq. per kilowatt hour based on the amount of such deficiency , escalated annually by the Consumer Price Index, but in no event shall said ACP exceed $0.010 per kilowatt hour.  Such Municipal Lighting Plant ACP shall be deposited into a fund which shall be maintained and administered by the municipal light plant and such fund shall be used by the municipal light plant to fund greenhouse gas emissions reduction and related programs in its service territory.

(f) Each municipal lighting plant shall file a compliance status report with the Department one year prior to each established date as contained in subsection (b).

(g) Compliance with the foregoing subsections shall fully satisfy any and all current and future requirements regarding the commonwealth’s implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act as might be applied to municipal lighting plants, including the provisions of chapter 21N of the general laws, as may be amended from time to time.