26 Del. Admin. Code § 3012-1.0

Current through Register Vol. 28, No. 7, January 1, 2025

Section 3012-1.0 - Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this regulation, have the following meaning:

"Annualized billing period" means a period of 12 consecutive monthly billing periods. For net metering customers, the first annualized billing period begins on the first day of the first full monthly billing period after which the customer-generator facility is interconnected with the electric distribution company and is generating electricity.

"Commission" means the Delaware Public Service Commission.

"Community-owned energy generating facilities" or "community energy facilities" means a renewable energy generating facility that has multiple owners or customers who share the output of the generator, which may be located either as a stand-alone facility or behind the meter of a participating owner or customer and that meets all applicable requirements of 26 DE Admin. Code 3013.

"Customer" means a purchaser of electricity with a Delmarva account number for ultimate consumption and not for resale in Delaware, including the owner/operator of any building or facility, but not the occupants thereof, who purchases and supplies electricity to the occupants of such building or facility.

"Customer-generator facility" means equipment used by a customer to generate, manage, and monitor electricity. A customer-generator facility, which typically includes an electric generator or an equipment package, shall:

1. Satisfy all of the applicable requirements of 26 DE Admin. Code 3012 Rules for Regulation of net metering;

2. Meet all applicable safety and performance standards established by the National Electrical Code, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and Underwriters Laboratories to ensure that net metering customers meet applicable safety and performance standards; and

3. Comply with the electric supplier's interconnection tariffs and operating guidelines.

"Delmarva" or "DP&L" means Delmarva Power & Light Company or its successor.

"Distribution facilities" means electric facilities located in Delaware that are owned by a public utility that operate at voltages of 34,500 volts or below and that are used to deliver electricity to customers, up through and including the point of physical connection with electric facilities owned by the customer.

"Distribution services" means those services, including metering, relating to the delivery of electricity to a customer through distribution facilities.

"DNREC" means Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

"Electric distribution company" or "EDC" means a public utility owning or operating transmission or distribution facilities in Delaware.

"Electric supplier" means an entity or person certified by the Commission that sells electricity to customers utilizing the transmission or distribution facilities of a nonaffiliated EDC, as defined in 26 Del.C. § 1001(14), including:

1. Affiliates of an EDC;

2. Municipal corporations which choose to provide electricity outside their municipal limits (except to the extent provided prior to February 1, 1999);

3. Electric cooperatives which, having exempted themselves from the Commission's jurisdiction pursuant to 26 Del.C. §§ 202(g) and 223, choose to provide electricity outside their assigned service territories; and

4. Any broker, marketer or other entity (including public utilities and their affiliates).

"Eligible energy resources" means the following energy sources located within the PJM region or imported into the PJM region and tracked through the PJM Market Settlement System:

1. Solar energy technologies that employ solar radiation to produce electricity;

2. Electricity derived from wind energy;

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

4. 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;

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

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

7. 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 (see DNREC Regulation 7 DE Admin. Code 2104 Environmental Standards for eligible energy resources);

8. 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 (see DNREC Regulation 7 DE Admin. Code 2104 Environmental Standards for eligible energy resources);

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

a. 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;

b. Increased utilization of landfill gas at electric generating facilities in operation prior to January 1, 2004 (i) is used to offset the consumption of coal, oil, or natural gas at those facilities, (ii) 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 (iii) causes no net increase in air emissions from the facility; and

c. 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.

"Excess kWh credit" means the credit that electric suppliers and EDCs provide to their net metering customers for any excess production of the customer's generating facility that exceeds the customer's on-site consumption of kilowatt-hours (kWh) in a billing period.

"Fuel cell" means an electric generating facility that:

(a) includes integrated power plant systems containing a stack, tubular array, or other functionally similar configuration used to electrochemically convert fuel to electric energy, and

(b) may include an inverter and fuel processing system or other plant equipment to support the plant's operation or its energy conversion, including heat recovery equipment.

"Grid-integrated electric vehicle" means a battery-run motor vehicle that has the ability for 2-way power flow between the vehicle and the electric grid and the communications hardware and software that allow for the external control of battery charging and discharging by an electric distribution company, electric supplier, PJM Interconnection, or an aggregator.

"Net metering" or "net energy metering" means a service to a customer whereby electric energy generated by the customer, through a customer-generator facility and delivered to the local distribution facilities of an EDC, may be used to offset electric energy provided by the EDC to the customer.

"PJM" or the PJM Interconnection, LLC means the Regional Transmission Organization ("RTO") that is responsible for wholesale energy markets and the interstate transmission of energy throughout a multi-state area, or its successor organization.

"Renewable energy credit" or "REC" means a tradable instrument comprised of all the generation attributes equal to 1 megawatt-hour of electricity derived from eligible energy resources and that is used to track and verify compliance with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Act, 26 Del.C. § 351et. seq. A REC does not include emission reduction credits or allowances encumbered or used by a generation unit for compliance with local, state, or federal operating or air quality permits associated with the 1 megawatt-hour of electricity.

"Residential customer" means a retail electric customer eligible to take service classified as residential under the tariff of the customer's electric distribution company currently on file with the Commission.

26 Del. Admin. Code § 3012-1.0

27 DE Reg. 985 (6/1/2024) (Final)