4 Colo. Code Regs. § 723-3-3652

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 23, December 10, 2024

Section 4 CCR 723-3-3652 - Definitions

The following definitions apply only to rules 3650 - 3668. In the event of a conflict between these definitions and a statutory definition, the statutory definition shall apply.

(a) "Annual compliance report" means the report a QRU is required to file annually with the Commission pursuant to rule 3662 to demonstrate compliance with the RES.

(b) "Benefiting meter" means a utility meter serving a unit or a common area in a multi-unit property that receives a system share of retail distributed generation. Benefiting meters that receive a system share of retail distributed generation located on a multi-unit property may be on different rate schedules and need not be physically interconnected with the retail distributed generation system. A multi-unit property owner or unit owners' association may be the customer of record for more than one benefiting meter at a multi-unit property.

(c) "Biomass" means nontoxic plant matter consisting of agricultural crops or their byproducts, urban wood waste, mill residue, slash, or brush; animal wastes and products of animal wastes; or methane produced at landfills or as a by-product of the treatment of wastewater residuals. With respect to nontoxic plant matter obtained from forests, both slash and brush shall mean products and materials derived from forest restoration and management, including, but not limited to, harvesting residues, pre-commercial thinning, and materials removed as part of a federally recognized timber sale or removed to reduce hazardous fuels, to reduce or contain disease or insect infestation, or to restore ecosystem health.

(d) "Coal mine methane" means methane captured from inactive coal mines where the methane is escaping to the atmosphere or from active coal mines where the methane vented in the normal course of mine operations is naturally escaping to the atmosphere.

(e) "Community-based project" means a project that meets the following three conditions: the project is owned by individual residents of a community, by an organization or cooperative that is controlled by individual residents of the community, by a local government entity, or by a tribal council; the project's generating capacity does not exceed 30 MW; and, there exists a resolution of support adopted by the local governing body of each local jurisdiction in which the project is to be located.

(f) "Community solar garden" or "CSG" means a solar electric generation facility with a nameplate rating of two MW or less that is located in or near a community served by a QRU where the beneficial use of the renewable energy generated by the facility belongs to the subscribers of the CSG. A CSG shall have at least ten CSG subscribers. A CSG shall be deemed to be located on the site of each subscribing customer's facilities for the purpose of crediting the CSG subscribers' bills for the renewable energy purchased from the CSG by the QRU. The renewable energy generated by a CSG shall be sold only to the QRU serving the geographic area where the CSG is located. The renewable energy generated by a CSG shall constitute retail renewable distributed generation under paragraph 3652(ff).

(g) "Compliance plan" means the annual plan a QRU is required to file with the Commission pursuant to rule 3657.

(h) "Compliance year" means a calendar year for which the RES is applicable.

(i) "CSG owner" means the owner of the solar generation facilities installed at a CSG that contracts to sell the unsubscribed renewable energy and RECs generated by the CSG to a QRU. A CSG subscriber organization operating a CSG not owned by it will be deemed to be a CSG owner for purposes of these rules. A CSG owner may be the QRU or any other for-profit or nonprofit entity or organization, including a CSG subscriber organization.

(j) "CSG subscriber" means a retail customer of a QRU who owns a subscription to a CSG and who has identified one or more premises served by the QRU to which the CSG subscription shall be attributed.

(k) "CSG subscriber organization" means any for-profit or nonprofit entity permitted by Colorado law and whose sole purpose shall be:

(I) to beneficially own and operate the CSG; or

(II) to operate the CSG that is built, owned, and operated by a third party under contract with such CSG subscriber organization.

(l) "CSG subscription" means a proportionate interest in the beneficial use of the electricity generated by the CSG, including without limitation, the renewable energy and RECs associated with or attributable to the CSG.

(m) "Early eligible energy resources" are eligible energy resources, excluding retail renewable distributed generation, where the utility certifies that the resource is commercially operational and can produce energy under the terms of its contract, prior to January 1, 2015.

(n) "Eligible energy" means renewable energy, recycled energy, or greenhouse gas neutral electricity generated by a facility using coal mine methane or synthetic gas.

(o) "Eligible energy resources" are renewable energy resources or facilities that generate recycled energy or greenhouse gas neutral electricity generated using coal mine methane or synthetic gas.

(p) "Eligible low-income CSG subscriber" means a residential customer of an investor owned QRU who:

(I) has a household income at or below 165 percent of the current federal poverty level, as published each year in the federal register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and

(II) otherwise meets the eligibility criteria set forth in rules of the Colorado Department of Human Services adopted pursuant to § 40-8.5-105, C.R.S.

(q) "Generation meter" means a utility production meter or production meters that measure the output of a retail distributed generation system that is allocated to benefiting meters. The retail distributed generation system may be owned by the owner of the multi-unit property, a unit owners' association, or a designee of the owner or unit owners' association of the multi-unit property. A retail distributed generation system located on a multi-unit property may have more than one point of interconnection and the total output of such a system shall be measured by aggregating the output of each production meter.

(r) "Greenhouse gas neutral electricity" means electricity generated by facilities using coal mine methane or synthetic gas that the Commission has determined to be greenhouse gas neutral on a CO₂ equivalent basis pursuant to § 40-2-124(1)(a)(IV), C.R.S.

(s) "Multi-unit property" means a property, including two or more contiguous parcels under common ownership, divided into at least two non-residential or two separate residential units, or both, including common interest communities without regard to interruptions in contiguity caused by easements, public thoroughfares, transportation rights-of-way, or utility rights-of- way.

(t) "On-site solar system" means a solar renewable energy system that is retail renewable distributed generation.

(u) "Person" means Commission staff or any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, cooperative association, joint stock association, joint venture, governmental entity, or other legal entity.

(v) "Pyrolysis" means the thermochemical decomposition of material at elevated temperatures without the participation of oxygen.

(w) "Qualifying retail utility" or "QRU" means any provider of retail electric service in the state of Colorado other than municipally owned electric utilities that serve 40,000 customers or fewer.

(x) "Qualifying wholesale utility" means a generation and transmission cooperative electric association that provides wholesale electric service directly to Colorado cooperative electric associations that are its members.

(y) "Recycled energy" means energy produced by a generation unit with a nameplate capacity of not more than fifteen MW that converts the otherwise lost energy from the heat from exhaust stacks or pipes to electricity and that does not combust additional fossil fuel. Recycled energy does not include energy produced by any system that uses energy, lost or otherwise, from a process whose primary purpose is the generation of electricity, including, without limitation, any process involving engine-driven generation or pumped hydroelectricity generation.

(z) "Renewable distributed generation" means retail renewable distributed generation and wholesale renewable distributed generation.

(aa) "Renewable energy" means energy generated from renewable energy resources including renewable distributed generation.

(bb) "Renewable energy credit" or "REC" means a contractual right to the full set of non-energy attributes, including any and all credits, benefits, emissions reductions, offsets, and allowances, howsoever entitled, directly attributable to a specific amount of electric energy generated from a renewable energy resource. One REC results from one MWH of electric energy generated from a renewable energy resource. For the purposes of these rules, RECs acquired from on-site solar systems before August 11, 2010 shall qualify as RECs from retail renewable distributed generation for purposes of demonstrating compliance with the renewable energy standard. RECs acquired from off-grid on-site solar systems prior to August 11, 2010 shall also qualify as RECs from retail renewable distributed generation for purposes of demonstrating compliance with the renewable energy standard.

(cc) "Renewable energy credit contract" means a contract for the sale of renewable energy credits without the associated energy.

(dd) "Renewable energy resource" means facilities that generate electricity by means of the following energy sources: solar radiation, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower, and fuel cells using hydrogen derived from eligible energy resources. Fossil and nuclear fuels and their derivatives are not eligible energy resources. Hydropower resources in existence on January 1, 2005 must have a nameplate rating of 30 MW or less. Hydropower resources not in existence on January 1, 2005 must have a nameplate rating of ten MW or less.

(ee) "Renewable energy standard" or "RES" means the electric resource standard for eligible energy resources specified in § 40-2-124, C.R.S.

(ff) "Renewable energy standard adjustment" or "RESA" means a forward-looking cost recovery mechanism used by an investor owned QRU to provide funding for implementing the RES.

(gg) "Renewable energy supply contract" means a contract for the sale of renewable energy and the RECs associated with such renewable energy. If the contract is silent as to renewable energy credits, the renewable energy credits will be deemed to be combined with the energy transferred under the contract.

(hh) "Retail electricity sales" means electric energy sold to retail end-use electric consumers by a QRU or an electric utility that is eligible to become a QRU pursuant to § 40-2-124(5)(b), C.R.S,

(ii) "Retail renewable distributed generation" means a renewable energy resource that is located on the premises of an end-use electric consumer and is interconnected on the end-use electric consumer's side of the meter. For the purposes of this definition, the non-residential end-use electric customer, prior to the installation of the renewable energy resource, shall not have its primary business being the generation of electricity for retail or wholesale sale from the same facility. In addition, at the time of the installation of the renewable energy resource, the non-residential end-use electric customer must use its existing facility for a legitimate commercial, industrial, governmental, or educational purpose other than the generation of electricity. Retail renewable distributed generation shall be sized to supply no more than 120 percent of the average annual consumption of electricity by the end-use electric consumer at that site. The end-use electric consumer's site shall include all contiguous property owned or leased by the consumer, without regard to interruptions in contiguity caused by easements, public thoroughfares, transportation rights-of-way, or utility rights-of-way.

(jj) "Rural renewable project" means a renewable energy resource with a nameplate rating of 30 MW or less that interconnects to electric transmission or distribution facilities owned by a cooperative electric association or municipally owned utility at a point of interconnection of 69 kV or less.

(kk) "Service entrance capacity" means the capacity of the QRU's electric service conductors that are physically connected to the customer's electric service entrance conductors.

(ll) "Solar renewable energy system" means a system that uses solar radiation energy to generate electricity.

(mm) "Standard rebate offer" or "SRO" means a standardized incentive program offered by a QRU to its retail electric service customers for on-site solar systems as set forth in rule 3658.

(nn) "Synthetic gas" means gas fuel produced through the pyrolysis of municipal solid waste.

(oo) "System share" means the percentage of the output of a retail distributed generation system or systems associated with a generation meter to which a benefiting meter is allocated. The system share of a generation meter allocated to each benefiting meter shall be determined by the multi-unit property owner, their designee, or the unit owners' association and provided to the QRU on a designated form provided by the QRU.

(pp) "Unit owners' association" shall have the same meaning as in § 38-33.3-103, C.R.S.

(qq) "Wholesale renewable distributed generation" means a renewable energy resource with a nameplate rating of 30 MW or less that does not qualify as retail renewable distributed generation.

4 CCR 723-3-3652

38 CR 17, September 10, 2015, effective 9/30/2015

39 CR 06, March 25, 2016, effective 4/14/2016

39 CR 08, April 25, 2016, effective 5/15/2016

40 CR 22, November 25, 2017, effective 12/15/2017

42 CR 03, February 10, 2019, effective 3/2/2019

42 CR 07, April 10, 2019, effective 4/30/2019

42 CR 09, May 10, 2019, effective 5/30/2019

43 CR 08, April 25, 2020, effective 5/15/2020

43 CR 12, June 25, 2020, effective 7/15/2020

43 CR 20, October 25, 2020, effective 11/14/2020

44 CR 13, July 10, 2021, effective 7/30/2021

44 CR 24, December 25, 2021, effective 1/14/2022

45 CR 18, September 25, 2022, effective 10/15/2022

46 CR 02, January 25, 2023, effective 2/14/2023

46 CR 21, November 10, 2023, effective 12/15/2023