By: Ogden S.B. No. 2349
(In the Senate - Filed March 13, 2009; March 31, 2009, read
first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce;
April 24, 2009, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 24, 2009,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 2349 By: Watson
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to distributed generation of electric power by natural gas
powered generation facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 31.002, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (4-a) and amending Subdivision (10) to read as
follows:
(4-a) "Distributed natural gas generation facility"
means a facility installed on the customer's side of the meter that
is used for the generation of not more than 2,000 kilowatts of
electricity.
(10) "Power generation company" means a person,
including a person who owns or operates a distributed natural gas
generation facility, that:
(A) generates electricity that is intended to be
sold at wholesale;
(B) does not own a transmission or distribution
facility in this state other than an essential interconnecting
facility, a facility not dedicated to public use, or a facility
otherwise excluded from the definition of "electric utility" under
this section; and
(C) does not have a certificated service area,
although its affiliated electric utility or transmission and
distribution utility may have a certificated service area.
SECTION 2. The heading to Subchapter B, Chapter 35,
Utilities Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER B. EXEMPT WHOLESALE GENERATORS, DISTRIBUTED NATURAL GAS
GENERATION FACILITIES, AND POWER MARKETERS
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 35, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 35.036 to read as follows:
Sec. 35.036. DISTRIBUTED NATURAL GAS GENERATION
FACILITIES. (a) A person who owns or operates a distributed
natural gas generation facility may sell electric power generated
by the facility. The electric utility, electric cooperative, or
retail electric provider that provides retail electricity service
to the facility shall:
(1) purchase electric power tendered to it by the
owner or operator of the facility at a fair market value price; or
(2) allow the owner or operator of the facility to use
the transmission and distribution facilities to transmit the
electric power to another market that is acceptable to the owner or
operator in accordance with commission rules.
(b) A distributed natural gas generation facility must
comply with emissions limitations established by the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality for a standard emissions permit
for an electric generation facility unit installed after January 1,
1995.
SECTION 4. Subsection (c), Section 39.351, Utilities Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) The commission may establish simplified filing
requirements for distributed natural gas generation facilities [A
power generation company may register any time after September 1,
2000].
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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