97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
HB2896

 

Introduced 2/23/2011, by Rep. Dave Winters

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
20 ILCS 3855/1-10

    Amends the Illinois Power Agency Act. Provides that the definition of "renewable energy resources" includes synthetic gas created by the plasma gasification of waste, densified fuel pellets made from waste material that does not include materials resulting from the handling, processing, storage, and consumption of food, and fuel produced by pyrolysis of organic or waste material from a municipality. Effective immediately.


LRB097 08516 ASK 48643 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB2896LRB097 08516 ASK 48643 b

1    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Illinois Power Agency Act is amended by
5changing Section 1-10 as follows:
 
6    (20 ILCS 3855/1-10)
7    Sec. 1-10. Definitions.
8    "Agency" means the Illinois Power Agency.
9    "Agency loan agreement" means any agreement pursuant to
10which the Illinois Finance Authority agrees to loan the
11proceeds of revenue bonds issued with respect to a project to
12the Agency upon terms providing for loan repayment installments
13at least sufficient to pay when due all principal of, interest
14and premium, if any, on those revenue bonds, and providing for
15maintenance, insurance, and other matters in respect of the
16project.
17    "Authority" means the Illinois Finance Authority.
18    "Clean coal facility" means an electric generating
19facility that uses primarily coal as a feedstock and that
20captures and sequesters carbon emissions at the following
21levels: at least 50% of the total carbon emissions that the
22facility would otherwise emit if, at the time construction
23commences, the facility is scheduled to commence operation

 

 

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1before 2016, at least 70% of the total carbon emissions that
2the facility would otherwise emit if, at the time construction
3commences, the facility is scheduled to commence operation
4during 2016 or 2017, and at least 90% of the total carbon
5emissions that the facility would otherwise emit if, at the
6time construction commences, the facility is scheduled to
7commence operation after 2017. The power block of the clean
8coal facility shall not exceed allowable emission rates for
9sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulates
10and mercury for a natural gas-fired combined-cycle facility the
11same size as and in the same location as the clean coal
12facility at the time the clean coal facility obtains an
13approved air permit. All coal used by a clean coal facility
14shall have high volatile bituminous rank and greater than 1.7
15pounds of sulfur per million btu content, unless the clean coal
16facility does not use gasification technology and was operating
17as a conventional coal-fired electric generating facility on
18June 1, 2009 (the effective date of Public Act 95-1027).
19    "Clean coal SNG facility" means a facility that uses a
20gasification process to produce substitute natural gas, that
21sequesters at least 90% of the total carbon emissions that the
22facility would otherwise emit and that uses petroleum coke or
23coal as a feedstock, with all such coal having a high
24bituminous rank and greater than 1.7 pounds of sulfur per
25million btu content.
26    "Commission" means the Illinois Commerce Commission.

 

 

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1    "Costs incurred in connection with the development and
2construction of a facility" means:
3        (1) the cost of acquisition of all real property and
4    improvements in connection therewith and equipment and
5    other property, rights, and easements acquired that are
6    deemed necessary for the operation and maintenance of the
7    facility;
8        (2) financing costs with respect to bonds, notes, and
9    other evidences of indebtedness of the Agency;
10        (3) all origination, commitment, utilization,
11    facility, placement, underwriting, syndication, credit
12    enhancement, and rating agency fees;
13        (4) engineering, design, procurement, consulting,
14    legal, accounting, title insurance, survey, appraisal,
15    escrow, trustee, collateral agency, interest rate hedging,
16    interest rate swap, capitalized interest and other
17    financing costs, and other expenses for professional
18    services; and
19        (5) the costs of plans, specifications, site study and
20    investigation, installation, surveys, other Agency costs
21    and estimates of costs, and other expenses necessary or
22    incidental to determining the feasibility of any project,
23    together with such other expenses as may be necessary or
24    incidental to the financing, insuring, acquisition, and
25    construction of a specific project and placing that project
26    in operation.

 

 

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1    "Department" means the Department of Commerce and Economic
2Opportunity.
3    "Director" means the Director of the Illinois Power Agency.
4    "Demand-response" means measures that decrease peak
5electricity demand or shift demand from peak to off-peak
6periods.
7    "Energy efficiency" means measures that reduce the amount
8of electricity or natural gas required to achieve a given end
9use.
10    "Electric utility" has the same definition as found in
11Section 16-102 of the Public Utilities Act.
12    "Facility" means an electric generating unit or a
13co-generating unit that produces electricity along with
14related equipment necessary to connect the facility to an
15electric transmission or distribution system.
16    "Governmental aggregator" means one or more units of local
17government that individually or collectively procure
18electricity to serve residential retail electrical loads
19located within its or their jurisdiction.
20    "Local government" means a unit of local government as
21defined in Article VII of Section 1 of the Illinois
22Constitution.
23    "Municipality" means a city, village, or incorporated
24town.
25    "Person" means any natural person, firm, partnership,
26corporation, either domestic or foreign, company, association,

 

 

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1limited liability company, joint stock company, or association
2and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal
3representative thereof.
4    "Project" means the planning, bidding, and construction of
5a facility.
6    "Public utility" has the same definition as found in
7Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities Act.
8    "Real property" means any interest in land together with
9all structures, fixtures, and improvements thereon, including
10lands under water and riparian rights, any easements,
11covenants, licenses, leases, rights-of-way, uses, and other
12interests, together with any liens, judgments, mortgages, or
13other claims or security interests related to real property.
14    "Renewable energy credit" means a tradable credit that
15represents the environmental attributes of a certain amount of
16energy produced from a renewable energy resource.
17    "Renewable energy resources" includes energy and its
18associated renewable energy credit or renewable energy credits
19from wind, solar thermal energy, photovoltaic cells and panels,
20biodiesel, crops and untreated and unadulterated organic waste
21biomass, tree waste, synthetic gas created by the plasma
22gasification of waste, densified fuel pellets made from waste
23material that does not include materials resulting from the
24handling, processing, storage, and consumption of food, fuel
25produced by pyrolysis of organic or waste material from a
26municipality, hydropower that does not involve new

 

 

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1construction or significant expansion of hydropower dams, and
2other alternative sources of environmentally preferable
3energy. For purposes of this Act, landfill gas produced in the
4State is considered a renewable energy resource. "Renewable
5energy resources" does not include the incineration or burning
6of tires, garbage, general household, institutional, and
7commercial waste, industrial lunchroom or office waste,
8landscape waste other than tree waste, railroad crossties,
9utility poles, or construction or demolition debris, other than
10untreated and unadulterated waste wood.
11    "Revenue bond" means any bond, note, or other evidence of
12indebtedness issued by the Authority, the principal and
13interest of which is payable solely from revenues or income
14derived from any project or activity of the Agency.
15    "Sequester" means permanent storage of carbon dioxide by
16injecting it into a saline aquifer, a depleted gas reservoir,
17or an oil reservoir, directly or through an enhanced oil
18recovery process that may involve intermediate storage in a
19salt dome.
20    "Servicing agreement" means (i) in the case of an electric
21utility, an agreement between the owner of a clean coal
22facility and such electric utility, which agreement shall have
23terms and conditions meeting the requirements of paragraph (3)
24of subsection (d) of Section 1-75, and (ii) in the case of an
25alternative retail electric supplier, an agreement between the
26owner of a clean coal facility and such alternative retail

 

 

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1electric supplier, which agreement shall have terms and
2conditions meeting the requirements of Section 16-115(d)(5) of
3the Public Utilities Act.
4    "Substitute natural gas" or "SNG" means a gas manufactured
5by gasification of hydrocarbon feedstock, which is
6substantially interchangeable in use and distribution with
7conventional natural gas.
8    "Total resource cost test" or "TRC test" means a standard
9that is met if, for an investment in energy efficiency or
10demand-response measures, the benefit-cost ratio is greater
11than one. The benefit-cost ratio is the ratio of the net
12present value of the total benefits of the program to the net
13present value of the total costs as calculated over the
14lifetime of the measures. A total resource cost test compares
15the sum of avoided electric utility costs, representing the
16benefits that accrue to the system and the participant in the
17delivery of those efficiency measures, as well as other
18quantifiable societal benefits, including avoided natural gas
19utility costs, to the sum of all incremental costs of end-use
20measures that are implemented due to the program (including
21both utility and participant contributions), plus costs to
22administer, deliver, and evaluate each demand-side program, to
23quantify the net savings obtained by substituting the
24demand-side program for supply resources. In calculating
25avoided costs of power and energy that an electric utility
26would otherwise have had to acquire, reasonable estimates shall

 

 

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1be included of financial costs likely to be imposed by future
2regulations and legislation on emissions of greenhouse gases.
3(Source: P.A. 95-481, eff. 8-28-07; 95-913, eff. 1-1-09;
495-1027, eff. 6-1-09; 96-33, eff. 7-10-09; 96-159, eff.
58-10-09; 96-784, eff. 8-28-09; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)
 
6    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
7becoming law.