Notices and Updates
June 24, 2020
On June 24, 2020 the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (Department) hosted a virtual seminar on the reporting procedure and best practices for Eligible Liquid Biofuel Suppliers, Wholesalers, and Distributors. The slides and a recording of the seminar can be found below.
Eligible Liquid Biofuels Reporting Seminar (PPT)
Eligible Liquid Biofuels Reporting Seminar (Recording)
September 30, 2019
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (Department) wishes to notify stakeholders that the Department has revised the Guideline on Biomass, Biogas, and Biofuels for Eligible Renewable Thermal Generation Units to update the section on Eligible Liquid Biofuel Distributors participation in the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (APS).
The changes to the guideline include moving from the reporting attestation to the guideline the requirement that all Eligible Liquid Biofuel distributors provide adequate notice to their customers regarding the liquid biofuel blend level they are receiving. The guideline has also included additional information on the methodology and language required to ensure adequate customer disclosure.
If you have questions, please direct them to thermal.DOER@mass.gov.
November 8, 2018
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (Department) wishes to notify Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (APS) stakeholders of a change made to the application procedure for Eligible Liquid Biofuel Generation Units:
- Effective for Q4 2018 and thereafter, Biofuel Distributor Applications will be approved on a rolling basis and if approved, the distributor will be eligible to participate the month following their approval. In order to ensure adequate time to review, applications must be submitted on or before the 15th day of the month to be eligible to begin participating in the program the following month. DOER will endeavor to review and make a determination prior to the beginning of the following month. The approval letter for each application will indicate the date on which the distributor will be authorized to begin reporting on Eligible Biofuels sales.
- Effective for Q4 2018 and thereafter, all Biofuel Supplier or Wholesaler Applications must be submitted 15 days prior to the first quarter for which they wish to be eligible. The application deadlines are as follows:
- Quarter 1: December 15th
- Quarter 2: March 15th
- Quarter 3: June 15th
- Quarter 4: September 15th
If you have any questions or comments regarding these changes please contact thermal.DOER@mass.gov.
August 15, 2018
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (Department) wishes to notify Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (APS) stakeholders of several changes made to the applications and procedures for Eligible Liquid Biofuel Generation Units:
- Effective for the Q3 and Q4 reporting period, all Quarterly reports for distributors, wholesalers, and suppliers may now be submitted up to 31 days after the end of the end of the reporting period. The quarterly reporting deadlines are as follows:
- Quarter 1 and 2: July 31st
- Quarter 3 and 4: January 31st
- The Biofuel Aggregation Application has been updated to become the Biofuel Distributor Application. All biofuel distributors who wish to be qualified under the APS must submit this application to the Department. The application will require all distributors to identify the name of the aggregation they would like to be a part of. In the case of a new aggregation, the application for the first distributor in the aggregation shall establish the aggregation. No additional paperwork will be required to establish a new aggregation or add a distributor to an aggregation.
- The Quarterly Biofuels Report – Aggregations has been updated to become the Quarterly Biofuels Report – Distributors. Aggregators may still submit this report on behalf of the distributors they represent; however they must submit a report for each individual distributor.
- Effective for the Q3 and Q4 reporting period, wholesalers and distributors will now be required to report ineligible sales of Eligible Liquid Biofuel in their quarterly report. Ineligible sales of Eligible Liquid Biofuel include Eligible Liquid Biofuel being sold outside of MA, for a purpose other than the production of Useful Thermal Energy, or other disqualifying factor. This requirement will result in a more accurate accounting of the rollover of Eligible Liquid Biofuel purchases available for sale from one quarter to the next.
Example:
Q1 Eligible Liquid Biofuel purchase: 1,000 gallons
Q1 Eligible Liquid Biofuel sales: 500 gallons
Q1 ineligible sales of Eligible Liquid Biofuel: 250 gallons
Eligible Liquid Biofuel available for sale in Q2: 250 gallons
If you have any questions or comments regarding these changes please contact thermal.DOER@mass.gov.
Eligibility Criteria
All Liquid Biofuels Generation Units:
- Must use Eligible Liquid Biofuels, as defined in 225 CMR 16.00
- May blend Eligible Liquid Biofuels with non-eligible fuels, as long as the blend contains 10% Eligible Liquid Biofuels by volume
- Must qualify as part of an aggregation
- Must deliver a useful thermal load to Massachusetts
For more information on Liquid Eligible Biofuels in the APS, please visit our APS Statement of Qualification webpage.
Size Classifications
The size classifications for Eligible Liquid Biofuel Generation Units are as follows:
|
Technology |
Intermediate |
Large |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Eligible Liquid Biofuels |
Output capacity less than 1,000,000 Btu per hour |
Output capacity greater than or equal to 1,000,000 Btu per hour |
Metering for Eligible Liquid Biofuel Generation Units
Intermediate Generation Units
Intermediate Eligible Liquid Biofuel Generation Units must be qualified as part of an aggregation. Biofuel distributors, a person or entity who sells Eligible Liquid Biofuel onto an end user, will be responsible for qualifying these Generation Units and retain the rights to all associated AECs. Information on how to become a biofuel distributor can be found below. The calculation used to determine the number of AECs for intermediate Eligible Liquid Biofuel Generation Units is as follows:
More information on this calculation can be found in the Guideline on Metering and Calculating the Useful Thermal Output for Renewable Thermal Generation Units – Part 1 (Calculations for Small and Intermediate Generation Units).
Large Generation Units
Large Eligible Liquid Biofuel Generation Units will receive AECs, based on their metered production, on a quarterly basis. Generation Unit owners should review the Guideline on Metering and Calculating the Useful Thermal Output for Renewable Thermal Generation Units – Part 2 (Metering for Intermediate and Large Generation Units) for information on metering requirements.
All large Eligible Liquid Biofuel Generation Units are required to submit the following in their Statement of Qualification Application through the APS Renewable Thermal Application Portal:
- Site and facility information
- Site plan (attachment)
- Contact information
- Equipment specifications
- Equipment arrangement drawing (attachment)
- Annotated product literature for all major equipment (attachment)
- Design specifications
- Description of system controls and sequence of operations (attachment)
- A process flow diagram (attachment)
- A one line electrical diagram (attachment)
- NEPOOL GIS information
- AEC Service Agreement (optional, attachment)
- APS Renewable Thermal Performance Workbook (attachment)
- Independent Verifier request form (attachment)
- A metering plan including a list of meters (attachment)
- Annotated product literature for each APS meter (attachment)
- Annotated product literature for the Data Acquisition System (DAS) (attachment)
Cap on the Available AECs for Biofuel Generation Units
In each Compliance Year the total number of AECs minted to Generation Units using Eligible Liquid Biofuel may not exceed 20% of the total projected annual compliance obligation for the Compliance Year, in which they are generated, with no more than 10% of the AECs generated prior to July 1. If 100% of the AEC available prior to July 1 are not allocated, the remaining number of available Attributes shall be rolled over and allocated during either of the remaining quarters in that calendar year. If the number of Attributes reported by Generation Units exceeds the available Attributes, the number of available Attributes shall be allocated on a pro-rata basis.
Biofuel Distributors
A biofuel distributor is a person or entity who sells Eligible Liquid Biofuel onto an end user and receives AECs based on the useful thermal energy the Eligible Liquid Biofuel creates. Biofuel distributors must purchase their Eligible Liquid Biofuel from a wholesaler or supplier on the Department's Biofuel Supplier List, see below.
Application Requirements
Any biofuel distributor who wishes to qualified under the APS must submit the application below to thermal.DOER@mass.gov.
Biofuel Distributor Application
The application deadlines for the Biofuel Distributor Application are as follows:
- Quarter 1: December 15th
- Quarter 2: March 15th
- Quarter 3: June 15th
- Quarter 4: September 15th
Reporting Requirements
All qualified biofuel distributors/aggregations will be required to report their Eligible Liquid Biofuel sales on a quarterly basis, using the form below.
Quarterly Biofuels Report - Distributor
The quarterly reporting deadline for this report is as follows:
- Quarter 1 and 2: July 31st
- Quarter 3 and 4: January 31st
Customer Disclosure
Upon delivery of Eligible Liquid Biofuel, all biofuel distributors must provide one of the following disclosures, directly to their customers via an invoice or delivery receipt, or other document as approved by the Department:
- “The heating oil included in this delivery contains X% percentage of biofuel of the total gallons delivered. Biofuel is produced from organic feedstocks and can vary from typical heating oil in energy content and composition.”
or
- “The heating oil included in this delivery contains a percentage of biofuel ranging from X% up to Y% of the total gallons delivered. Biofuel is produced from organic feedstocks and can vary from typical heating oil in energy content and composition.”
Communications such as company newsletters, websites, or general customer outreach are not acceptable forms of communication for customer disclosure.
The total percentage of biofuel disclosed to the consumer must include both Eligible Liquid Biofuel and non-Eligible Liquid Biofuel. If the distributor is providing a range of the delivered biofuel, this range should be as small as practicable but cannot be greater than 40%. As an example, a distributor selling a B20 blend that contains 10% Eligible Liquid Biofuel and 10% non-Eligible Liquid Biofuel (20% total biofuel), may notify their customer that they have received fuel containing 10-50% biofuel.
Any biofuel distributor who fails to provide this language to their customers is subject to a suspension of their Statement of Qualification and a potential disqualification of all AECs produced during the time period in which customers were not provided with the information above.
Biofuel Suppliers List
The Department shall develop and maintain a list of suppliers and wholesalers of Eligible Liquid Biofuel on its website, see below. A biofuel supplier or wholesaler must complete and submit an application to the Department to be included on the Department’s Biofuel Suppliers List. Fuel suppliers must be registered in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), and must verify with the DOER that they produce biodiesel from only organic waste feedstocks. Fuel Distributors will be required to demonstrate chain of custody from the supplier to the customer.
To be added to the list, a biofuel supplier or wholesaler will be required to submit the application below to thermal.DOER@mass.gov:
Biofuel Supplier or Wholesaler Application
The application deadlines for the Biofuel Supplier and Wholesaler Applications are as follows:
- Quarter 1: December 15th
- Quarter 2: March 15th
- Quarter 3: June 15th
- Quarter 4: September 15th
In additional to the above application, biofuel suppliers and wholesalers will be required to report their Eligible Liquid Biofuel production on a quarterly basis, using the respective form below.
Quarterly Biofuels Report - Suppliers
Quarterly Biofuels Report - Wholesalers
The quarterly reporting deadlines for these reports are as follows:
- Quarter 1 and 2: July 31st
- Quarter 3 and 4: January 31st