Amendment #7 to H4738

Hydro Re-licensing

Mr. Moran of Boston moves to amend the bill by adding the following section:

SECTION XX. Section 11F of chapter 25A, is hereby amended by striking out clause (c) as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition and inserting in place thereof the following clause: (c) New or relicensed renewable energy generating sources meeting the requirements of this subsection shall be known as Class I renewable energy generating sources. For the purposes of this subsection, a Class I renewable energy generating source is one that began commercial operation after December 31, 1997, or represents the net increase from incremental new generating capacity after December 31, 1997 at an existing facility, or, for existing hydroelectric resources, receives a new license after January 1, 2018, under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rules, 18 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 16, where the facility generates electricity using any of the following: (1) solar photovoltaic or solar thermal electric energy; (2) wind energy; (3) ocean thermal, wave or tidal energy; (4) fuel cells utilizing renewable fuels; (5) landfill gas; (6) energy generated by new or relicensed hydroelectric facilities, or incremental new energy from increased capacity or efficiency improvements at existing hydroelectric facilities; provided, however, that (i) each such new or relicensed 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; (ii) only energy from new or relicensed 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 or construction of any new dam or water diversion structure constructed later than January 1, 1998; (7) low emission advanced biomass power conversion technologies using fuels such as wood, by-products or waste from agricultural crops, food or animals, energy crops, biogas, liquid biofuel including but not limited to biodiesel, organic refuse-derived fuel, or algae; (8) marine or hydrokinetic energy as defined in section 3; or (9) geothermal energy. A Class I renewable generating source may be located behind the customer meter within the ISO-NE control area if the output is verified by an independent verification system participating in the NEPOOL GIS accounting system and approved by the department.;

And further amend Section 11F of chapter 25A, as so appearing, by inserting after the word “energy.”, in line 109, the following sentence:- A facility in clause (6) shall no longer be a Class II renewable generating source if it receives a new license after January 1, 2018, under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rules, 18 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 16 and provides formal notification to the department that the facility seeks to participate as a Class I renewable generating source.