Relating to a qualifying cogenerator that serves a large load and a colocated desalination facility.

89(R) HB 4290 - Engrossed version - Bill Text

By: Darby, Landgraf, Anchía, Craddick

H.B. No. 4290

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a qualifying cogenerator that serves a large load and a

colocated desalination facility.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 31.002(13), Utilities Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(13) "Qualifying cogenerator" and "qualifying small

power producer" have the meanings assigned those terms by 16 U.S.C.

Sections 796(18)(C) and 796(17)(D). A qualifying cogenerator that

provides electricity to a purchaser of the cogenerator's thermal

output is not for that reason considered to be a retail electric

provider or a power generation company.
The term includes an owner

or operator of dispatchable generation that:

(A)

provides thermal, steam, or waste heat for

use by a colocated desalination facility;

(B)

serves a load used for the primary purpose of

manufacturing digital products; and

(C)

is not located in an area in which a

municipally owned utility or electric cooperative is certificated

to provide retail electric utility service.

SECTION 2. Section 37.001(3), Utilities Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(3) "Retail electric utility" means a person,

political subdivision, electric cooperative, or agency that

operates, maintains, or controls in this state a facility to

provide retail electric utility service. The term does not include

a corporation described by Section 32.053 to the extent that the

corporation sells electricity exclusively at wholesale and not to

the ultimate consumer. A qualifying cogenerator that sells

electric energy at retail to the sole purchaser of the

cogenerator's thermal output under Sections 35.061 and 36.007 is

not for that reason considered to be a retail electric utility.
The

owner or operator of a qualifying cogenerator that provides

thermal, steam, or waste heat for use by a colocated desalination

facility and serves a load used for the primary purpose of

manufacturing digital products is not for that reason considered to

be a retail electric utility.
The owner or operator of a qualifying

cogeneration facility who was issued the necessary environmental

permits from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission

after January 1, 1998, and who commenced construction of such

qualifying facility before July 1, 1998, may provide electricity to

the purchasers of the thermal output of that qualifying facility

and shall not for that reason be considered an electric utility or a

retail electric utility, provided that the purchasers of the

thermal output are owners of manufacturing or process operation

facilities that are located on a site entirely owned before

September, 1987, by one owner who retained ownership after

September, 1987, of some portion of the facilities and that those

facilities now share some integrated operations, such as the

provision of services and raw materials. A person who is an

electric generation equipment lessor or operator is not for that

reason considered to be a retail electric utility. A person who owns

or operates equipment used solely to provide electricity charging

service for consumption by an alternatively fueled vehicle, as

defined by Section 502.004, Transportation Code, is not for that

reason considered to be a retail electric utility.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives

a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as

provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this

Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this

Act takes effect September 1, 2025.