Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 38, September 20, 2024
A. "Eligible Renewable Energy Resources" are
applications of the following defined technologies that displace Conventional
Energy Resources that would otherwise be used to provide electricity to an
Affected Utility's Arizona customers:
1.
"Biogas Electricity Generator" is a generator that produces electricity from
gases that are derived from plant-derived organic matter, agricultural food and
feed matter, wood wastes, aquatic plants, animal wastes, vegetative wastes, or
wastewater treatment facilities using anaerobic digestion or from municipal
solid waste through a digester process, an oxidation process, or other
gasification process.
2. "Biomass
Electricity Generator" is an electricity generator that uses any raw or
processed plant-derived organic matter available on a renewable basis,
including: dedicated energy crops and trees; agricultural food and feed crops;
agricultural crop wastes and residues; wood wastes and residues, including
landscape waste, right-of-way tree trimmings, or small diameter forest
thinnings that are 12" in diameter or less; dead and downed forest products;
aquatic plants; animal wastes; other vegetative waste materials; non-hazardous
plant matter waste material that is segregated from other waste; forest-related
resources, such as harvesting and mill residue, pre-commercial thinnings,
slash, and brush; miscellaneous waste, such as waste pellets, crates, and
dunnage; and recycled paper fibers that are no longer suitable for recycled
paper production, but not including painted, treated, or pressurized wood, wood
contaminated with plastics or metals, tires, or recyclable post-consumer waste
paper.
3. "Distributed Renewable
Energy Resources" as defined in subsection (B).
4. "Eligible Hydropower Facilities" are
hydropower generators that were in existence prior to 1997 and that satisfy one
of the following two criteria:
a. New
Increased Capacity of Existing Hydropower Facilities: A hydropower facility
that increases capacity due to improved technological or operational
efficiencies or operational improvements resulting from improved or modified
turbine design, improved or modified wicket gate assembly design, improved
hydrological flow conditions, improved generator windings, improved electrical
excitation systems, increases in transformation capacity, and improved system
control and operating limit modifications. The electricity kWh that are
eligible to meet the Annual Renewable Energy Requirements shall be limited to
the new, incremental kWh output resulting from the capacity increase that is
delivered to Arizona customers to meet the Annual Renewable Energy
Requirement.
b. Generation from
pre-1997 hydropower facilities that is used to firm or regulate the output of
other eligible, intermittent renewable resources. The electricity kWh that are
eligible to meet the Annual Renewable Energy Requirements shall be limited to
the kWh actually generated to firm or regulate the output of eligible
intermittent Renewable Energy Resources and that are delivered to Arizona
customers to meet the Annual Renewable Energy Requirements.
5. "Fuel Cells that Use Only
Renewable Fuels" are fuel cell electricity generators that operate on renewable
fuels, such as hydrogen created from water by Eligible Renewable Energy
Resources. Hydrogen created from non-Renewable Energy Resources, such as
natural gas or petroleum products, is not a renewable fuel.
6. "Geothermal Generator" is an electricity
generator that uses heat from within the earth's surface to produce
electricity.
7. "Hybrid Wind and
Solar Electric Generator" is a system in which a Wind Generator and a solar
electric generator are combined to provide electricity.
8. "Landfill Gas Generator" is an electricity
generator that uses methane gas obtained from landfills to produce
electricity.
9. "New Hydropower
Generator of 10 MW or Less" is a generator, installed after January 1, 2006,
that produces 10 MW or less and is either:
a.
A low-head, micro hydro run-of-the-river system that does not require any new
damming of the flow of the stream; or
b. An existing dam that adds power generation
equipment without requiring a new dam, diversion structures, or a change in
water flow that will adversely impact fish, wildlife, or water quality;
or
c. Generation using canals or
other irrigation systems.
10. "Solar Electricity Resources" use
sunlight to produce electricity by either photovoltaic devices or solar thermal
electric resources.
11. "Wind
Generator" is a mechanical device that is driven by wind to produce
electricity.
B.
"Distributed Renewable Energy Resources" are applications of the following
defined technologies that are located at a customer's premises and that
displace Conventional Energy Resources that would otherwise be used to provide
electricity to Arizona customers:
1. "Biogas
Electricity Generator," "Biomass Electricity Generator," "Geothermal
Generator," "Fuel Cells that Use Only Renewable Fuels," "New Hydropower
Generator of 10 MW or Less," or "Solar Electricity Resources," as each of those
terms is defined in subsections (A)(1), (A)(2), (A)(5), (A)(6), (A)(9), and
(A)(10).
2. "Biomass Thermal
Systems" and "Biogas Thermal Systems" are systems which use fuels as defined in
subsections (A)(1) and (A)(2) to produce thermal energy and that comply with
Environmental Protection Agency Certification Programs or are permitted by
state, county, or local air quality authorities. For purposes of this
definition "Biomass Thermal Systems" and "Biogas Thermal Systems" do not
include biomass and wood stoves, furnaces, and fireplaces.
3. "Commercial Solar Pool Heaters" are
devices that use solar energy to heat commercial or municipal swimming
pools.
4. "Geothermal Space Heating
and Process Heating Systems" are systems that use heat from within the earth's
surface for space heating or for process heating.
5. "Renewable Combined Heat and Power System"
is a Distributed Generation system, fueled by an Eligible Renewable Energy
Resource, that produces both electricity and useful renewable process heat.
Both the electricity and renewable process heat may be used to meet the
Distributed Renewable Energy Requirement.
6. "Solar Daylighting" is the non-residential
application of a device specifically designed to capture and redirect the
visible portion of the solar beam, while controlling the infrared portion, for
use in illuminating interior building spaces in lieu of artificial
lighting.
7. "Solar Heating,
Ventilation, and Air Conditioning" ("HVAC") is the combination of Solar Space
Cooling and Solar Space Heating as part of one system.
8. "Solar Industrial Process Heating and
Cooling" is the use of solar thermal energy for industrial or commercial
manufacturing or processing applications.
9. "Solar Space Cooling" is a technology that
uses solar thermal energy absent the generation of electricity to drive a
refrigeration machine that provides for space cooling in a building.
10. "Solar Space Heating" is a method whereby
a mechanical system is used to collect solar energy to provide space heating
for buildings.
11. "Solar Water
Heater" is a device that uses solar energy rather than electricity or fossil
fuel to heat water for residential, commercial, or industrial
purposes.
12. "Wind Generator of 1
MW or Less" is a mechanical device, with an output of 1 MW or less, that is
driven by wind to produce electricity.
C. Except as provided in subsection (A)(4),
Eligible Renewable Energy Resources shall not include facilities installed
before January 1, 1997.
D. The
Commission may adopt pilot programs in which additional technologies are
established as Eligible Renewable Energy Resources. Any such additional
technologies shall be Renewable Energy Resources that produce electricity,
replace electricity generated by Conventional Energy Resources, or replace the
use of fossil fuels with Renewable Energy Resources. Energy conservation
products, energy management products, energy efficiency products, or products
that use non-renewable fuels shall not be eligible for these pilot
programs.