Del. Code tit. 26 § 352

Current through 2024 Legislative Session Act Chapter 510

Section 352 - Definitions

As used in this subchapter:

(1) "Alternative compliance payment" means a payment of a certain dollar amount per megawatt hour, which a retail electricity supplier or municipal electric company may submit in lieu of supplying the minimum percentage from Eligible Energy Resources required under Schedule I in § 354 of this title.

(2) "Commission" means the Delaware Public Service Commission.

(3) "Community-owned energy generating facility" has the meaning given in § 1001 of this title.

(4) "Compliance year" means the calendar year beginning with June 1 and ending with May 31 of the following year, for which a retail electricity supplier or municipal electric company must demonstrate that it has met the requirements of this subchapter.

(5) "Customer-sited generation" means a generation unit that is interconnected on the end-use customer's side of the retail electricity meter in such a manner that it displaces all or part of the metered consumption of the end-use customer.

(6) "Delaware Benchmark Price" means the sum of (a) the weighted average cost per megawatt-hour of compliance, through REC procurement, net energy costs of renewable energy contracts, and alternative compliance payments, with the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Act for Commission-regulated public utilities during the 3 immediately preceding years, and (b) the 3 year average, of the 3 immediately preceding years, of the average of the winning bid prices in dollars per megawatt-hour that a Commission-regulated public utility has secured electric energy through its most recent competitive request for proposals for each of the following customer classes:

(i) Residential and Small Commercial Industrial,

(ii) Medium General Service - Secondary,

(iii) Large General Service - Secondary, and

(iv) General Service - Primary.

(7) "DNREC" means Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.

(8) "Eligible energy resources" include the following energy sources located within or imported into the PJM region:

a. Solar photovoltaic or solar thermal energy technologies that employ solar radiation to produce electricity or to displace electricity use;

b. Electricity derived from wind energy;

c. Electricity derived from ocean energy including wave or tidal action, currents, or thermal differences;

d. Geothermal energy technologies that generate electricity with a steam turbine, driven by hot water or steam extracted from geothermal reservoirs in the earth's crust;

e. Electricity generated by a fuel cell powered by renewable fuels;

f. Electricity generated by the combustion of gas from the anaerobic digestion of organic material;

g. Electricity generated by a hydroelectric facility that has a maximum design capacity of 30 megawatts or less from all generating units combined that meet appropriate environmental standards as determined by DNREC;

h. Electricity generated from the combustion of biomass that has been cultivated and harvested in a sustainable manner as determined by DNREC, and is not combusted to produce energy in a waste to energy facility or in an incinerator, as that term is defined in Title 7;

i. Electricity generated by the combustion of methane gas captured from a landfill gas recovery system; provided however, that:

1. Increased production of landfill gas from production facilities in operation prior to January 1, 2004, demonstrates a net reduction in total air emissions compared to flaring and leakage;

2. Increased utilization of landfill gas at electric generating facilities in operation prior to January 1, 2004;

A. Is used to offset the consumption of coal, oil, or natural gas at those facilities;

B. Does not result in a reduction in the percentage of landfill gas in the facility's average annual fuel mix when calculated using fuel mix measurements for 12 out of any continuous 15-month period during which the electricity is generated; and

C. Causes no net increase in air emissions from the facility; and

3. Facilities installed on or after January 1, 2004, meet or exceed 2004 federal and state air emission standards, or the federal and state air emission standards in place on the day the facilities are first put into operation, whichever is higher.

(9) "End-use customer" means a person or entity in Delaware that purchases electrical energy at retail prices from a retail electricity supplier or municipal electric company.

(10) "Fund" means the Delaware Green Energy Fund.

(11) "GATS" means the generation attribute tracking system developed by PJM.

(12) "Generation attribute" means a nonprice characteristic of the electrical energy output of a generation unit including, but not limited to, the unit's fuel type, geographic location, emissions, vintage and RPS eligibility.

(13) "Generation unit" means a facility that converts a fuel or an energy resource into electrical energy.

(14) "Municipal electric company" means a public corporation created by contract between 2 or more municipalities pursuant to provisions of Chapter 13 of Title 22 and the electric utilities that are municipally owned within the State of Delaware.

(15) "New renewable generation resources" means eligible energy resources first going into commercial operation after December 31, 1997.

(16) "Offshore Wind Contract" shall mean an agreement under which the state or 1 or more Commission-regulated public utilities, municipal electric companies, rural electric cooperatives, or other Qualified Purchasers, individually or collectively, either directly or through an intermediary, purchase or transfer any attributes of electric energy generated from 1 or more qualified offshore wind projects. The agreement may include purchases or transfers of energy-related products such as energy, capacity, RECs, or ancillary services, or any combination of these.

(17) "OSW Solicitation Requirements" shall have the meaning set forth in § 8052 of Title 29.

(18) "PJM" or "PJM interconnection" means the regional transmission organization (RTO) that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in the PJM region, or its successors at law.

(19) "PJM region" means the area within which the movement of wholesale electricity is coordinated by PJM Interconnection. The PJM region is as described in the Amended and Restated Operating Agreement of PJM.

(20) "Qualified fuel cell provider" means an entity that:

a. By no later than the commencement date of commercial operation of the full nameplate capacity of a fuel cell project, manufactures fuel cells in Delaware that are capable of being powered by renewable fuels; and

b. Prior to approval of required tariff provisions, is designated by the Director of the Division of Small Business and the Secretary of DNREC as an economic development opportunity.

(21) "Qualified fuel cell provider project" means a fuel cell power generation project located in Delaware owned and/or operated by a qualified fuel cell provider under a tariff approved by the Commission pursuant to § 364(d) of this title.

(22) "Qualified Offshore Wind Project" shall mean a wind turbine electric generation facility located in the Atlantic Ocean and connected to the electric transmission system in the PJM region, and shall include the appurtenant transmission-related facilities and equipment that interconnects such project to the PJM region electric transmission system.

(23) "Qualified Purchasers" shall mean any entities interested in joining as a party to a Qualified Offshore Wind Contract who can demonstrate sufficient capital, history, or other necessary assurances as determined by the State Energy Office, after consultation with the Commission, of its ability to maintain its participation as an off-taker through the life of the contract.

(24) "Renewable energy credit" ("REC") means a tradable instrument that is equal to 1 megawatt-hour of retail electricity sales in the State that is derived from eligible energy resources and that is used to track and verify compliance with the provisions of this subchapter.

(25) "Renewable energy portfolio standard" and "RPS" means the percentage of electricity sales at retail in the state that is to be derived from eligible energy resources.

(26) "Renewable fuel" means a fuel that is derived from eligible energy resources. This term does not include a fossil fuel or a waste product from a fossil fuel source.

(27) "Retail electricity product" means an electrical energy offering that is distinguished by its generation attributes and that is offered for sale by a retail electricity supplier or municipal electric company to end-use customers.

(28) "Retail electricity supplier" means a person or entity that sells electrical energy to end-use customers in Delaware, including but not limited to nonregulated power producers, electric utility distribution companies supplying standard offer, default service, or any successor service to end-use customers. A retail electricity supplier does not include a municipal electric company for the purposes of this subchapter.

(29) "Rural electric cooperative" means a nonstock, nonprofit, membership corporation organized pursuant to the federal Rural Electrification Act of 1936 [ 7 U.S.C § 901 et seq.] and operated under the cooperative form of ownership.

(30) "Solar Alternative Compliance Payment" means a payment of a certain dollar amount per megawatt-hour, which a retail electricity supplier or municipal electric supplier may submit in lieu of supplying the minimum percentage from solar photovoltaics required under Schedule I in § 354 of this title.

(31) "Solar Renewable Energy Credit" ("SREC") means a tradable instrument that is equal to 1 megawatt-hour of retail electricity sales in the State that is derived from solar photovoltaic energy resources and that is used to track and verify compliance with the provisions of this subchapter.

(32) "Total retail sales" means retail sales of electricity within the State of Delaware exclusive of sales to any industrial customer with a peak demand in excess of 1,500 kilowatts.

(33) "Unsubscribed energy" means any community-owned energy generating facility percentage of output that is not allocated to any customer.

26 Del. C. § 352

Amended by Laws 2023, ch. 401,s 6, eff. 9/5/2024.

Amended by Laws 2021 , ch. 178, s 1, eff. 9/17/2021.

Amended by Laws 2017 , ch. 374, s 47, eff. 7/1/2018.

Amended by Laws 2017 , ch. 49, s 18, eff. 7/1/2017.

75 Del. Laws, c. 205, § 1; 76 Del. Laws, c. 165, §§ 1 - 3; 78 Del. Laws, c. 99, § 1.;