Current through August 26, 2024
Any person wishing to register a VER shall determine a
baseline in order to quantify the amount of emissions reduced or avoided or the
amount of carbon sequestered, except as provided in sub. (4). Baselines shall
be determined as follows:
(1) STANDARD
BASELINE.
(a)
Emission
reductions. Baselines for emission reduction actions shall be
determined as the average annual actual emissions or emission rate for the 2
years immediately preceding the year in which the VER action is
taken.
(b)
Avoided
emissions.
1. Baselines for
renewable energy projects shall be determined as the average annual emission
rate for the Wisconsin generating system of the electric power generator whose
emissions are avoided by the renewable energy project, in terms of mass per
unit of energy produced. The average annual emission rate shall be the average
of the emission rates for the 2 years immediately preceding the year in which
the VER action is taken.
2.
Baselines for energy efficiency projects shall be determined as the average
annual emission rate for the Wisconsin generating system of the electric power
generator whose emissions are avoided by the energy efficiency project, in
terms of mass per unit of energy produced. The average annual emission rate
shall be the average of the emission rates for the 2 years immediately
preceding the year in which the VER action is taken.
(2) ALTERNATIVE BASELINES.
(a) Alternative years may be used to
determine the baseline if the 2 years immediately preceding the year in which
the emission reduction or avoidance action was taken are not representative of
the emissions or emission rate before the emission reduction action was taken.
Any person using alternative years shall submit documentation to the department
explaining the reason for the use of different years.
(b) For VER projects for which there are no
prior emissions, the baseline shall be determined as the emission limits or
performance standards required by law, if applicable. If there are no
applicable emission limits or performance standards, the baseline shall be
determined as the industry or activity average emission or emission rate. Any
person using an alternative baseline under this subsection shall submit
documentation to the department describing how the baseline was
determined.
(c) For VERs that
result from actions taken to comply with a law and that result in emissions
which are lower than those required by law, the baseline shall be the standard
baseline as described in sub. (1) or the emission limits required by law,
whichever is less.
(3)
BASELINE FOR CARBON SEQUESTRATION. For carbon sequestration projects, the
baseline shall be determined as the amount of carbon, quantified in terms of
carbon dioxide equivalents, stored in the carbon sequestration project area at
the beginning of the project.
(4)
NO BASELINE. When no quantification protocol is available to determine a
baseline, the action may be registered without determining a
baseline.
