HB 165  - AS INTRODUCED

 

 

2023 SESSION

23-0673

10/05

 

HOUSE BILL 165

 

AN ACT relative to department of energy procedures in lieu of meeting renewable portfolio standards for biomass.

 

SPONSORS: Rep. Harrington, Straf. 18

 

COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill removes the requirement for class III (biomass) payments to the renewable energy fund for compliance with renewable portfolio standards.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

23-0673

10/05

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three

 

AN ACT relative to department of energy procedures in lieu of meeting renewable portfolio standards for biomass.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  Statement of Findings and Purpose.  The general court hereby finds that:

I.  Biomass, while a renewable fuel source, contributes to global climate change through greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore should not be subsidized as a clean fuel source.

II.  Other New England states have already removed the requirement for biomass derived electricity in their respective renewable portfolio standards.

III.  Biomass plants in the region are not cost competitive with other sources of renewable energy and therefore will require permanent ratepayer subsidies.

2  Renewable Portfolio Standards; Payments to the Renewable Energy Fund; Biomass Payments Removed.  Amend RSA 362-F:10, II and III to read as follows:

II.  In lieu of meeting the portfolio requirements of RSA 362-F:3 for a given year if, and to the extent sufficient certificates are not otherwise available at a price below the amounts specified in this paragraph, an electricity provider may, at the time of report submission for that year under RSA 362-F:8, make payment to the department of energy at the following rates for each megawatt-hour not met for a given class obligation through the acquisition of certificates:

(a)  Class I - $55, except for that portion of the class electric renewable portfolio standards to be met by qualifying renewable energy technologies producing useful thermal energy under RSA 362-F:3 which shall be $25 beginning January 1, 2013.

(b)  Class II - $55.

(c)  Class III - [$31.50] $0.

(d)  Class IV - $26.50.

III.(a)  Beginning in [2013] 2023, the department of energy shall adjust these rates by January 31 of each year using the Consumer Price Index as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor for [classes III and] class IV and 1/2 of such Index for classes I and II.

(b)  In lieu of the adjustments under subparagraph (a) for class III in 2015 and 2016, the class rate in each of those years shall be $45.  In lieu of the adjustments under subparagraph (a) for class III in 2017, 2018, and 2019, the class rate in each of those years shall be $55.

(c)  [By January 31, 2020 the department of energy shall compute] The [2020] 2023 and subsequent years' class III rate [to equal the rate that would have resulted in 2020 by the application of subparagraph (a) to the 2013 rate and each subsequent year's rate to 2020.

(d)  In 2021 and thereafter, the class III rate shall be determined by application of subparagraph (a) to the prior year's rate] shall be $0.

3  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.