Or. Admin. R. 860-029-0045

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 8, August 1, 2024

Section 860-029-0045 - Eligibility for Standard Avoided Cost Prices and Purchase Agreements

(1) Solar qualifying facilities with a Nameplate Capacity Rating of 3 MW and less, and all other qualifying facilities with a Nameplate Capacity Rating of 10 MW and less, are eligible for standard avoided cost prices.

(2) All qualifying facilities with a Nameplate Capacity Rating of 10 MW and less are eligible to enter into a standard power purchase agreement.

(3) Renewable qualifying facilities that satisfy the criteria of section (1) are eligible to select the purchasing public utility's standard renewable avoided cost prices. A renewable qualifying facility choosing the standard renewable avoided cost prices must cede all renewable energy certificates generated by the Facility to the purchasing public utility while the qualifying facility is receiving deficiency-period pricing from the purchasing public utility and during any other period of the power purchase agreement ordered by the Commission.

(4) The determination of Nameplate Capacity Rating for purposes of determining whether a qualifying facility meets the size criteria in sections (1) and (2) is based on the cumulative Nameplate Capacity Rating of the qualifying facility seeking the standard avoided cost prices or power purchase agreement and that of any other Facilities owned by the same person(s) or affiliate(s) located on the same site.

(a) Two qualifying facilities are located on the same site if the generating facilities or equipment providing fuel or motive force associated with the qualifying facilities are located within a five-mile radius and the qualifying facilities use the same source of energy or motive force to generate electricity;

(b) For purposes of this section:

(A) Person(s) are natural persons or any legal entities.

(B) Affiliate(s) are persons sharing common ownership or management, persons acting jointly or in concert with, or exercising influence over, the policies of another person or persons, or wholly owned subsidiaries.

(C) To the extent a person or affiliate is a closely held entity, a "look through" rule applies so that project equity held by limited liability companies, trusts, estates, corporations, partnerships, and other similar entities is considered to be held by the owners of the look through entity.

(c) Notwithstanding subsections (4)(a) and (b), the qualifying facility seeking standard prices or a standard power purchase agreement, and other Facilities within the same five-mile radius, will not be considered owned or controlled by the same person(s) or affiliate(s) if the person(s) or affiliate(s) in common are passive investors whose ownership interest is primarily for obtaining value related to production tax credits, green tag values, or modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) depreciation, and the qualifying facility and other Facilities at issue are "family-owned" or "community-based" project(s):

(A) Family-owned. A project will be considered "family owned" if, after excluding the ownership interest of those who qualify as passive investor(s) under (4)(c), five or fewer individuals hold at least 50 percent of the project entity, or 15 or fewer individual entities hold at least 90 percent of the project entity. For purposes of counting the number of individuals holding the remaining share (i.e., determining whether there are 5 or fewer individuals or 15 or fewer individuals), an individual is a natural person. Notwithstanding the foregoing, an individual, his or her spouse, and his or her dependent children, will be aggregated and counted as a single individual even if the spouse and/or dependent children also hold equity in the project;

(B) Community Based. A community-based (or community-sponsored) project must include participation by an established organization that is located either in the county in which the qualifying facility is located or within 50 miles of the qualifying facility and that either:

(i) Has a genuine role in developing, or helping to develop, the qualifying facility and intends to have a significant continuing role with, or interest in, the qualifying facility after it is completed and placed in service; or

(ii) Is a unit of local government that will not have an equity ownership interest in or exercise any control over the management of the qualifying facility and whose only interest is a share of the cash flow from the qualifying facility, that may not exceed 20 percent without prior approval of the Commission for good cause.

(d) Notwithstanding subsections (4)(a) and (b), two or more qualifying facilities that otherwise are not owned or operated by the same person(s) or affiliate(s) will not be determined to be a single qualifying facility based on the fact that they have in place a shared interest or agreement regarding interconnection facilities, interconnection-related system upgrades, or any other infrastructure not providing motive force or fuel. Two or more qualifying facilities will not be held to be owned or controlled by the same person(s) or affiliate(s) solely because they are developed by a single entity so long as they are not owned or operated by the same person(s) or affiliate(s) of the same person(s) at the time each qualifying facility seeks to enter into a power purchase agreement or at any time thereafter.

Or. Admin. R. 860-029-0045

PUC 8-2023, adopt filed 07/25/2023, effective 7/26/2023

Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 183, ORS 756, ORS 757 & ORS 758

Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 756.040 & ORS 758.505-758.555