Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

HOUSE BILL NO. 4759
 June 14, 2023, Introduced by Reps. Coffia, Hoskins, Farhat, O'Neal, Puri, Byrnes, Mentzer,
    Rheingans, Arbit, Hope, Morse, Young, Wegela, McKinney, Price, Brixie, Glanville,
    MacDonell, Tyrone Carter, Breen, Stone, Conlin, Churches, Hood, Weiss, Hill, Morgan,
    Wilson, McFall, Edwards, Paiz, Pohutsky, Aiyash and Whitsett and referred to the Committee
    on Energy, Communications, and Technology.
      A bill to amend 2008 PA 295, entitled
"Clean and renewable energy and energy waste reduction act,"
by amending the title, the heading to subpart A of part 2, and
sections 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 22, 28, 29, 45, 47, and 49 (MCL 460.1001,
1003, 460.1007, 460.1009, 460.1011, 460.1022, 460.1028,
1029, 460.1045, 460.1047, and 460.1049), the title and sections
1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 29, 45, 47, and 49 as amended and sections 22 and
as added by 2016 PA 342, and by adding sections 32, 34, 50, 51,
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     52, and 53.
                   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
                                 TITLE
       An act to require certain providers of electric service to
 establish and recover costs for renewable energy and carbon-free
 energy programs; to require certain providers of electric or
 natural gas service to establish and recover costs for energy waste
 reduction programs; to authorize the use of certain energy systems
 to meet the requirements of those programs; to provide for the
 approval of energy waste reduction service companies; to reduce
 energy waste by state agencies and the public; to create a wind
 energy resource zone board and provide for its power and duties; to
 authorize the creation and implementation of wind energy resource
 zones; to provide for expedited transmission line siting
 certificates; to provide for customer generation and net metering
 programs and the responsibilities of certain providers of electric
 service and customers with respect to customer generation and net
 metering; to provide for fees; to prescribe the powers and duties
 of certain state agencies and officials; to require the
 promulgation of rules and the issuance of orders; to authorize the
 establishment of residential energy improvement programs by
 providers of electric or natural gas service; and to provide for
 civil sanctions, remedies, and penalties.
       Sec. 1. (1) This act shall be known and may be cited as the
 "clean and renewable energy and energy waste reduction act".
       (2) The purpose of this act is to promote the development and
 use of clean and renewable energy resources and the reduction of
 energy waste through programs that will cost-effectively do all of
 the following:
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       (a) Diversify the resources used to reliably meet the energy
 needs of consumers in this state.
       (b) Provide greater energy security through the use of
 indigenous energy resources available within the state.
       (c) Encourage private investment in renewable energy and
 energy waste reduction.
       (d) Coordinate with federal regulations to provide improved
 air quality and other benefits to energy consumers and citizens of
 this state.
       (e) Remove unnecessary burdens on the appropriate use of solid
 waste as a clean energy source.
       (3) As a goal, not less than 35% of this state's electric
 needs should be met through a combination of energy waste reduction
 and renewable energy by 2025, if the investments in energy waste
 reduction and renewable energy are the most reasonable means of
 meeting an electric utility's energy and capacity needs relative to
 other resource options. Both of the following count toward
 achievement of the goal:
       (a) All renewable energy, including renewable energy credits
 purchased or otherwise acquired with or without the associated
 renewable energy, and any banked renewable energy credits, that
 counted toward the renewable energy standard on the effective date
 of the 2016 amendatory act that added this subsection, as well as
 renewable energy credits granted as a result of any investments
 made in renewable energy by the utility or a utility customer after
 that effective date.
       (b) The sum of the annual electricity savings since October 6,
 2008, as recognized by the commission through annual reconciliation
 proceedings, that resulted from energy waste reduction measures
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 implemented under an energy optimization plan or energy waste
 reduction plan approved under section 73.
       (e) Mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
       Sec. 3. As used in this act:
       (a) "Applicable regional transmission organization" means a
 nonprofit, member-based organization governed by an independent
 board of directors that serves as the regional transmission
 organization approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
 with oversight responsibility for the region that includes the
 provider's service territory.
       (b) "Biomass" means any organic matter that is not derived
 from fossil fuels, that can be converted to usable fuel for the
 production of energy, and that replenishes over a human, not a
 geological, time frame, including, but not limited to, all of the
 following:
       (i) Agricultural crops and crop wastes.
       (ii) Short-rotation energy crops.
       (iii) Herbaceous plants.
       (iv) Trees and wood, but only if derived from sustainably
 managed forests or procurement systems, as defined in section 261c
 of the management and budget act, 1984 PA 431, MCL 18.1261c.
       (v) Paper and pulp products.
       (vi) Precommercial wood thinning waste, brush, or yard waste.
       (vii) Wood wastes and residues from the processing of wood
 products or paper.
       (viii) Animal wastes.
       (ix) Wastewater sludge or sewage.
       (x) Aquatic plants.
       (xi) Food production and processing waste.
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       (xii) Organic by-products from the production of biofuels.
       (c) "Board" means the wind energy resource zone board created
 under section 143.
       (d) "Carbon dioxide emissions benefits" means that the carbon
 dioxide emissions per megawatt hour of electricity generated by the
 advanced cleaner energy system are at least 85% less or, for an
 integrated gasification combined cycle facility or an integrated
 pyrolysis combined cycle facility, 70% less than the average carbon
 dioxide emissions per megawatt hour of electricity generated from
 all coal-fired electric generating facilities operating in this
 state on January 1, 2008.
       (d) "Capacity" means the maximum output of electricity that a
 generator can produce under ideal conditions, generally measured in
 megawatts or kilowatts.
       (e) "Carbon capture and storage" means a process that involves
 collecting carbon dioxide at its source and storing, or
 sequestering, it to prevent its release into the atmosphere.
       (f) "Carbon-free energy" means electricity or steam generated
 using a carbon-free energy system.
       (g) "Carbon-free energy plan" or, unless the context requires
 a different meaning, "plan" means a plan approved or found to
 comply with this act under section 51 with any amendments adopted
 under this act.
       (h) "Carbon-free energy portfolio" means the percentage of an
 electric provider's total retail electric sales consisting of
 carbon-free energy.
       (i) "Carbon-free energy standard" means the carbon-free energy
 portfolio required under section 28(2).
       (j) "Carbon-free energy system" means a facility, electricity
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 generation system, or set of electricity generation systems that
 generates electricity or steam without emitting greenhouse gas.
 Carbon-free energy system does not include a facility or system
 that utilizes any of the following:
       (i) Carbon capture and storage.
       (ii) Hydrogen as a fuel source to generate electricity.
       (iii) Natural gas as a fuel source to generate electricity.
       (k) (e) "Cogeneration facility" means a facility that produces
 both electricity and useful thermal energy, such as heat or steam,
 in a way that is more efficient than the separate production of
 those forms of energy.
       (l) (f) "Commission" means the Michigan public service
 commission.
       (m) (g) "Customer meter" means an electric meter of a
 provider's retail customer. Customer meter does not include a
 municipal water pumping meter or additional meters at a single site
 that were installed specifically to support interruptible air
 conditioning, interruptible water heating, net metering, or time-
 of-day tariffs.
       (n) "Distributed generation" means the generation of
 electricity under the distributed generation program.
       (o) (h) "Distributed generation program" means the program
 established by the commission under section 173.
       Sec. 7. As used in this act:
       (a) "Gasification facility" means a facility located in this
 state that, using a thermochemical process that does not involve
 direct combustion, produces synthesis gas, composed of carbon
 monoxide and hydrogen, from carbon-based feedstocks (such as coal,
 petroleum coke, wood, biomass, hazardous waste, medical waste,
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 industrial waste, and solid waste, including, but not limited to,
 municipal solid waste, electronic waste, and waste described in
 section 11514 of the natural resources and environmental protection
 act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.11514) and that uses the synthesis gas or
 a mixture of the synthesis gas and methane to generate electricity
 for commercial use. Gasification facility includes the transmission
 lines, gas transportation lines and facilities, and associated
 property and equipment specifically attributable to such a
 facility. Gasification facility includes, but is not limited to, an
 integrated gasification combined cycle facility and a plasma arc
 gasification facility.
       (b) "Greenhouse gas" means carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
 oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, or sulfur
 hexafluoride.
       (c) (b) "Incremental costs of compliance" means the net
 revenue required by an electric provider to comply with the
 renewable energy standard, calculated as provided under section 47.
       (d) (c) "Independent transmission company" means that term as
 defined in section 2 of the electric transmission line
 certification act, 1995 PA 30, MCL 460.562.
       (e) (d) "Integrated gasification combined cycle facility"
 means a gasification facility that uses a thermochemical process,
 including high temperatures and controlled amounts of air and
 oxygen, to break substances down into their molecular structures
 and that uses exhaust heat to generate electricity.
       (f) (e) "Integrated pyrolysis combined cycle facility" means a
 pyrolysis facility that uses exhaust heat to generate electricity.
       (g) (f) "LEED" means the leadership in energy and
 environmental design green building rating system developed by the
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 United States Green Building Council.
       (h) (g) "Load management" means measures or programs that
 target equipment or behavior to result in decreased peak
 electricity demand such as by shifting demand from a peak to an
 off-peak period.
       (i) "Low-income customer" means a customer whose household
 income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty level, as
 published by the United States Department of Health and Human
 Services, or who is enrolled in any federal, state, or local
 program with similar income eligibility requirements, including,
 but not limited to, any of the following:
       (i) A state emergency relief program.
       (ii) The food assistance program administered under the social
 welfare act, 1939 PA 280, MCL 400.1 to 400.119b.
       (iii) Medicaid.
       (j) "Medicaid" means the medical assistance program
 established and administered by this state under section 105 of the
 social welfare act, 1939 PA 280, MCL 400.105.
       (k) (h) "Megawatt", "megawatt hour", or "megawatt hour of
 electricity", unless the context implies otherwise, includes the
 steam equivalent of a megawatt or megawatt hour of electricity.
       (l) (i) "Modified net metering" means a utility billing method
 that applies the power supply component of the full retail rate to
 the net of the bidirectional flow of kilowatt hours across the
 customer interconnection with the utility distribution system,
 during a billing period or time-of-use pricing period. A negative
 net metered quantity during the billing period or during each time-
 of-use pricing period within the billing period reflects net excess
 generation for which the customer is entitled to receive credit
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 under section 177(4). Under modified net metering, standby charges
 for distributed generation customers on an energy rate schedule
 shall be equal to the retail distribution charge applied to the
 imputed customer usage during the billing period. The imputed
 customer usage is calculated as the sum of the metered on-site
 generation and the net of the bidirectional flow of power across
 the customer interconnection during the billing period. The
 commission shall establish standby charges under modified net
 metering for distributed generation customers on demand-based rate
 schedules that provide an equivalent contribution to utility system
 costs. A charge for net metering and distributed generation
 customers established pursuant to section 6a of 1939 PA 3, MCL
 460.6a, shall not be recovered more than once. This subdivision is
 subject to section 177(5).
       Sec. 9. As used in this act:
       (a) "Natural gas provider" means an investor-owned business
 engaged in the sale and distribution at retail of natural gas
 within this state whose rates are regulated by the commission.
       (b) "Pet coke" means a solid carbonaceous residue produced
 from a coker after cracking and distillation from petroleum
 refining operations.
       (c) "Plasma arc gasification facility" means a gasification
 facility that uses a plasma torch to break substances down into
 their molecular structures.
       (c) (d) "Provider" means an electric provider or a natural gas
 provider.
       (d) (e) "PURPA" means the public utility regulatory policies
 act of 1978, Public Law 95-617.
       (e) (f) "Pyrolysis facility" means a facility that effects
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 thermochemical decomposition at elevated temperatures without the
 participation of oxygen, from carbon-based feedstocks, including,
 but not limited to, coal, wood, biomass, industrial waste, or solid
 waste, but not including pet coke, hazardous waste, coal waste, or
 scrap tires. Pyrolysis facility includes the transmission lines,
 gas transportation lines and facilities, and associated property
 and equipment specifically attributable to the facility. Pyrolysis
 facility includes, but is not limited to, an integrated pyrolysis
 combined cycle facility.
         Sec. 11. As used in this act:
         (a) "Renewable energy" means electricity or steam generated
 using a renewable energy system.
         (b) "Renewable energy contract" means a contract to acquire
 renewable energy and the associated renewable energy credits from 1
 or more renewable energy systems.
         (c) "Renewable energy credit" means a credit granted under a
 certification and tracking program established under section 41,
 which represents generated renewable energy.
         (d) "Renewable energy credit portfolio" means the sum of the
 renewable energy credits achieved by a provider for a particular
 year.
         (e) "Renewable energy credit standard" means a minimum
 renewable energy credit portfolio required under section 28 28(1)
 or former section 27.
         (f) "Renewable energy plan" or, unless the context requires a
 different meaning, "plan" means a plan approved under section 22 or
 former section 21 or 23 or found to comply with this act under
 former section 25, with any amendments adopted under this act.
         (g) "Renewable energy resource" means a resource that
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 naturally r