SENATE, No. 1976

Whereas, the deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is forthwith to promote environmentally responsible enhancements to, and increase the electricity output from, existing hydropower facilities, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the Commonwealth’s energy needs and convenience.

SECTION 1.  Section 11 F of Chapter 25A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition is hereby amended by striking clause (vii) in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following new clause:- “(vii) incremental energy resulting from increased capacity and/or efficiency at hydroelectric facilities licensed by FERC after 1986, or at hydroelectric facilities that receive FERC approval to construct improvements necessary to provide such incremental energy, so long as such increased capacity and/or efficiency does not involve pumped storage of water, is achieved without involving any new impoundment or diversion of water, and meets the requirements for classification as “low impact” hydropower as certified by the Low Impact Hydropower Institute or as certified by the division in accordance with comparable environmental certification standards; provided that only such improvements to a hydroelectric facility made after January 1, 1998, and only up to five (5) megawatts per facility of incremental new energy attributable to such improvements, shall be considered a new renewable energy generating source.

SECTION 2.  Section 11F of Chapter 25A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition is hereby amended in line 33 by striking the words “clauses (vi) and (vii) herein.” and inserting in place thereof the following:- “clause (vi).”

SECTION 3.  Said Section 11F of Chapter 25A, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting the following new section:-  (d) Commencing in January 2009 and continuing each year thereafter, the Division shall calculate and provide public notice of the total kilowatt-hour sales of generation from eligible incremental hydroelectric generation used for compliance with this section in the previous calendar year, which shall be reported as a percentage of total kilowatt-hour sales to end-use customers in the Commonwealth by retail electricity suppliers.  The Division shall adjust upward, by this reported percentage, the minimum percentage of kilowatt-hour sales from new renewable energy generation sources that each retail supplier must provide to end-use customers in the Commonwealth in the following year and each year thereafter, which shall be in addition to any other increases in the minimum percentage requirement for the purchase of new renewable energy generation as determined by the Division.

SECTION 4.     Section 11 F of Chapter 25A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition is hereby amended by adding the following new section:-  (e) Not less than once every two years, every distribution company providing default or basic service, as that term is defined by the department of telecommunications and energy, shall conduct a Request for Proposals for contracts for a) Renewable Energy Certificates from eligible new renewable energy generating sources and b) Renewable Energy Certificates bundled with electricity generated from eligible new renewable energy generating sources; and shall sign contracts, subject to department of telecommunications and energy review and approval, that provide the least-cost means of compliance with this section for default or basic service customers. Distribution companies must consider contracts for up to 20 years duration, and must acquire at least thirty percent of their projected compliance obligation from contracts of at least ten years duration.