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TITLE 16ECONOMIC REGULATION
PART 2PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS
CHAPTER 25SUBSTANTIVE RULES APPLICABLE TO ELECTRIC SERVICE PROVIDERS
SUBCHAPTER HELECTRICAL PLANNING
DIVISION 1RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES AND USE OF NATURAL GAS
RULE §25.173Goal for Renewable Energy
Repealed Date:01/01/2024

  (2) Award RECs or compliance premiums to registered renewable energy facilities on a quarterly basis based on verified meter reads;

  (3) Award offsets to retail entities on an annual basis based on a nomination submitted by the retail entity pursuant to subsection (i) of this section;

  (4) Annually record the retirement of RECs or compliance premiums that each retail entity submits;

  (5) Retire RECs at the end of each REC's compliance life;

  (6) Maintain public information on its website that provides trading program information to interested buyers and sellers of RECs;

  (7) Create an exchange procedure where persons may purchase and sell RECs or compliance premiums. The exchange shall ensure the anonymity of persons purchasing or selling RECs or compliance premiums. The program administrator may delegate this function to an independent third party, subject to commission approval;

  (8) Make public each month the total energy sales of retail entities in Texas for the previous month;

  (9) Perform audits of generators participating in the trading program to verify accuracy of metered production data;

  (10) Allocate the RPS requirement to each retail entity in accordance with subsection (h) of this section; and

  (11) Submit an annual report to the commission. The program administrator shall submit a report to the commission on or before May 15 of each calendar year. The report shall contain information pertaining to renewable energy power generators and retail entities. At a minimum, the report shall contain:

    (A) the amount of existing and new renewable energy capacity in MW installed in the state by technology type, the owner/operator of each facility, the date each facility began to produce energy, the amount of energy generated in megawatt-hours (MWh) each quarter for all capacity participating in the trading program or that was retired from service; and

    (B) a listing of all retail entities participating in the trading program, each retail entity's RPS requirement, the number of offsets used by each retail entity, the number of RECs retired by each retail entity, the number of compliance premiums retired by each retail entity, a listing of all retail entities that were in compliance with the RPS requirement, a listing of all retail entities that failed to comply with the RPS requirement, and the deficiency of each retail entity that failed to retire sufficient RECs or compliance premiums to meet its RPS requirement.

(h) Allocation of RPS requirement to retail entities. The program administrator shall allocate RPS requirements among retail entities. Any renewable capacity that is retired before January 1, 2015 or any capacity shortfalls that arise due to purchases of RECs from out-of-state facilities shall be replaced and incorporated into the allocation methodology set forth in this subsection. Any changes to the allocation methodology to reflect replacement capacity shall occur two compliance periods after the facility is retired or the capacity shortfall occurs. The program administrator shall use the following methodology to determine the total annual RPS requirement for a given year and the final RPS allocation for individual retail entities:

  (1) The total statewide RPS requirement for each compliance period shall be calculated in terms of MWh and shall be equal to the applicable capacity requirement set forth in this paragraph multiplied by 8,760 hours per year, multiplied by the appropriate capacity conversion factor set forth in subsection (k) of this section. The renewable energy capacity requirements for the compliance period beginning January 1, of the year indicated shall be:

    (A) 1,400 MW of new resources in 2006;

    (B) 1,400 MW of new resources in 2007;

    (C) 2,392 MW of new resources in 2008;

    (D) 2,392 MW of new resources in 2009;

    (E) 3,384MW of new resources in 2010;

    (F) 3,384 MW of new resources in 2011;

    (G) 4,376 MW of new resources in 2012;

    (H) 4,376 MW of new resources in 2013;

    (I) 5,000 MW of new resources in 2014; and

    (J) 5,000 MW of new resources for each year after 2014.

  (2) The final RPS allocation for an individual retail entity for a compliance period shall be calculated as follows:

    (A) Beginning with the 2008 compliance period, prior to the preliminary RPS allocation each retail entity's total retail energy sales are reduced to exclude the consumption of customers that opt out in accordance with subsection (j) of this section. Each retail entity's preliminary RPS allocation is determined by dividing its total retail energy sales in Texas by the total retail sales in Texas of all retail entities, and multiplying that percentage by the total statewide RPS requirement for that compliance period.

    (B) The adjusted RPS allocation for each retail entity that is entitled to an offset is determined by reducing its preliminary RPS allocation by the offsets to which it qualifies, as determined under subsection (i) of this section, with the maximum reduction equal to the retail entity's preliminary RPS allocation. The total reduction for all retail entities is equal to the total usable offsets for that compliance period.

    (C) Each retail entity's final RPS allocation for a compliance period shall be increased to recapture the total usable offsets calculated under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph. The additional RPS allocation shall be calculated by dividing the retail entity's preliminary RPS allocation by the total preliminary RPS allocation of all retail entities. This fraction shall be multiplied by the total usable offsets for that compliance period and this amount shall be added to the retail entity's adjusted RPS allocation to produce the retail entity's final RPS allocation for the compliance period.

  (3) Concurrent with determining final individual RPS allocations for the current compliance period in accordance with this subsection, the program administrator shall recalculate the final RPS allocations for the previous compliance periods, taking into account corrections to retail sales resulting from resettlements. The difference between a retail entity's corrected final RPS allocation and its original final RPS allocation for the previous compliance periods shall be added to or subtracted from the retail entity's final RPS allocation for the current compliance period.

(i) Nomination and award of REC offsets.

  (1) A REP, municipally-owned utility, G&T cooperative, distribution cooperative, or an affiliate of a REP, municipally-owned utility, or distribution cooperative, may apply offsets to meet all or a portion of its renewable energy purchase requirement, as calculated in subsection (h) of this section, only if those offsets were nominated in a filing with the commission by June 1, 2001.

  (2) The program administrator shall award offsets consistent with the commission's actions to verify designations of REC offsets and with this section.

  (3) REC offsets shall be equal to the average annual MWh output of an existing resource for the years 1991-2000 or the entire life of the existing resource, whichever is less.

  (4) REC offsets qualify for use in a compliance period under subsection (h) of this section only to the extent that:

    (A) The resource producing the REC offset has continuously since September 1, 1999 been owned by or its output has been committed under contract to a utility, municipally-owned utility, or cooperative (or successor in interest) nominating the resource under paragraph (1) of this subsection or, if the resource has been committed under a contract that expired after September 1, 1999 and before January 1, 2002, it was owned by or its output was committed under contract to a utility, municipally-owned utility, or cooperative on January 1, 2002; and

    (B) The facility producing the REC offsets is operated and producing energy during the compliance period in a manner consistent with historic practice.

  (5) If the production of energy from a facility that is eligible for an award of REC offsets ceases for any reason, or if the power purchase agreement with the facility's owner (or successor in interest) that is referred to in paragraph (4)(A) of this subsection has lapsed or is no longer in effect, the retail entity shall no longer be awarded REC offsets related to the facility.

  (6) REC offsets shall not be traded.

(j) Opt-out notice.

  (1) A customer receiving electrical service at transmission-level voltage who submits an opt-out notice to the commission for the applicable compliance period shall have its load excluded from the RPS calculation.

  (2) An investor-owned utility that is subject to a renewable energy requirement under this section shall not collect costs attributable to the REC program from an eligible customer who has submitted an opt-out notice. An investor-owned utility whose rates include the cost of RECs shall file a tariff to implement this subsection, not later than 30 days after the effective date of this section.

Cont'd...

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