HB 152: "An Act establishing a renewable energy fund and describing its uses and purposes."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 152 01 "An Act establishing a renewable energy fund and describing its uses and purposes." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 04 to read: 05 LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS. The legislature finds that 06 (1) an adequate, reliable, reasonably priced, and safe supply of electrical 07 energy is necessary for Alaska's basic infrastructure, and economic and technological 08 development; 09 (2) Alaska possesses vast amounts of renewable energy resources in the form 10 of wind, solar, geothermal, wave and tidal, biomass, and hydropower; 11 (3) the legislature established the Alaska Energy Policy Task Force in 2003 to 12 review and analyze the state's current and long-term energy needs; 13 (4) the task force found that one of Alaska's long-term energy needs is to 14 identify and evaluate long-term fuel resources, and recommended that the state should 15 increase the proportion of renewables in long term-fuel sources;
01 (5) the cost of fuels such as natural gas and diesel that Alaskans rely on in 02 large part to generate electric power is steadily rising; 03 (6) residents of rural Alaska pay far more for electricity than residents who 04 live on the Railbelt energy grid; 05 (7) there is virtually no fuel cost associated with renewable energy resources; 06 (8) other states and nations are working successfully to develop their 07 renewable energy resources; 08 (9) the continued competitiveness and stability of the state's economy requires 09 that the legislature consider national trends toward renewable energy development; 10 (10) renewable energy technology development promotes industry and creates 11 jobs; 12 (11) clean renewable energy has many environmental and health benefits; 13 (12) locally produced renewable energy has many security benefits; 14 (13) modern, affordable, and efficient renewable energy technologies now 15 exist; 16 (14) it is in the interest of the public for Alaska to develop its zero fuel cost 17 renewable energy resources; and 18 (15) natural gas should be considered as a last alternative for communities 19 with no other reasonable renewable resources. 20 * Sec. 2. AS 42.45 is amended by adding a new section to read: 21 Sec. 42.45.045. Renewable energy fund. (a) A renewable energy fund is 22 established as a separate fund to finance certain energy projects in Alaska. The fund 23 consists of money appropriated to it, including appropriations of interest earned by the 24 fund and appropriations of repayments of loans. 25 (b) The fund shall be administered by the Alaska Energy Authority, with 26 advice of an advisory committee as provided for in (d) and (e) of this section. The 27 advisory committee consists of seven members, with one representative appointed by 28 the governor to staggered three-year terms from each of the following groups: 29 (1) small Alaska rural utilities serving not more than 10,000 people; 30 (2) large Alaska urban utilities; 31 (3) nonprofit environmental groups;
01 (4) nonprofit consumer groups; 02 (5) Alaska Native organizations; 03 (6) businesses engaged in the renewable energy sector; and 04 (7) state government. 05 (c) A member of the advisory committee appointed under (b) of this section 06 serves without compensation but is entitled to travel and per diem expenses as 07 provided in AS 39.20.180. 08 (d) The authority shall 09 (1) in consultation with the advisory committee, establish regulations 10 that develop a methodology for determining the order of projects that receive 11 assistance, including separate requirements for grant and loan eligibility, and adopt 12 regulations identifying criteria to evaluate the benefit and feasibility of projects 13 applying for support from the fund, with significant weight being given to the amount 14 of matching funds a project is able to make available; 15 (2) in consultation with the advisory committee, establish regulations 16 that develop a methodology for distributing a proportionate share of funds under this 17 section to finance feasibility studies, reconnaissance studies, renewable energy 18 resource monitoring, and construction of renewable energy projects, natural gas 19 projects, and transmission or distribution infrastructure in Alaska using the following 20 guidelines: 21 (A) not more than 10 percent of the annual average amount of 22 the fund may be used for feasibility studies, reconnaissance studies, and energy 23 resource monitoring; and 24 (B) at least 90 percent of the annual average amount of the fund 25 shall be used for design and construction of renewable energy resource projects 26 that qualify under (f) of this section, natural gas projects that qualify under (g) 27 of this section, and distribution and transmission infrastructure that qualifies 28 under (h) of this section; 29 (3) in consultation with the advisory committee, establish regulations 30 that provide for power production incentives to help reduce the principal balances on 31 loans made from the fund.
01 (e) The authority shall, in consultation with the advisory committee, make 02 grants and loans to eligible applicants to finance feasibility studies, reconnaissance 03 studies, energy resource monitoring, and construction of renewable energy projects, 04 natural gas projects, or transmission or distribution infrastructure located in Alaska 05 that meet the requirements of (f), (g), or (h) of this section, as applicable, and, at least 06 once each year, solicit from the advisory committee funding recommendations for all 07 loans and grants. 08 (f) For a renewable energy project to qualify for a grant or loan under (e) of 09 this section, the project must 10 (1) be a new project not in operation on the effective date of this Act or 11 an addition to an existing project made after the effective date of this Act; 12 (2) generate more than 50 kilowatts of electricity and distribute the 13 electricity to more than 20 end users; and 14 (3) be 15 (A) a hydroelectric facility; 16 (B) a direct use of renewable energy resources; 17 (C) a facility that generates energy from fuel cells that run on 18 renewable energy resources or natural gas; 19 (D) a facility that generates energy from in-stream kinetic 20 turbines; or 21 (E) a facility that generates energy from renewable energy 22 resources. 23 (g) To qualify for a grant or loan under (e) of this section, a natural gas project 24 must benefit a community that 25 (1) has a population of 10,000 or less; 26 (2) does not have viable renewable energy resources it can develop; 27 and 28 (3) can demonstrate that the development of the natural gas project 29 will not have local adverse environmental effects. 30 (h) To be eligible for a grant or loan under (e) of this section, transmission or 31 distribution infrastructure must link a renewable energy project or natural gas project
01 to the electric grid. A grant or loan may be made under this subsection even if the 02 grant or loan applicant is not itself financing the construction of the renewable energy 03 project or natural gas project. 04 (i) The authority may not loan or grant more than five percent of the annual 05 average amount of the fund for natural gas projects under (g) of this section. 06 (j) The authority may not loan more than 20 percent of the annual average 07 amount of the fund without interest. 08 (k) The authority may not give more than 50 percent of the annual average 09 amount of the fund in the form of grants. 10 (l) In this section, 11 (1) "eligible applicant" means an electric utility holding a certificate of 12 public convenience and necessity under AS 42.05, independent power producer, local 13 government, or other governmental utility, including a tribal council and housing 14 authority; 15 (2) "fund" means the renewable energy fund; 16 (3) "hydroelectric facilities" has the meaning given to the term 17 "project" under AS 42.45.350(g) as applicable to licensing water-power development 18 projects, unless the authority adopts a different definition based on a determination 19 made by a nationally recognized independent nonprofit corporation that considers the 20 environmental effects of hydropower practices; 21 (4) "natural gas project" means use or access of natural gas other than 22 landfill or digester gas; 23 (5) "renewable energy resources" means 24 (A) wind, solar, geothermal, wave, or tidal power; 25 (B) low-emission nontoxic biomass based on solid or liquid 26 organic fuels from wood, forest and field residues, or animal products; 27 (C) dedicated energy crops available on a renewable basis; or 28 (D) landfill gas and digester gas. 29 * Sec. 3. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 30 read: 31 TRANSITION. AS 39.05.055(5) applies to the initial appointments by the governor to
01 the advisory committee under AS 42.45.045(b), added by sec. 2 of this Act.