Qualified biomass facilities

AN ACT Relating to allowing the use of electricity generated by 1
qualified biomass facilities in the Pacific Northwest to meet a 2
qualifying utility's renewable resource requirements under the energy 3
independence act; and amending RCW 19.285.030 and 19.285.040.4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
Sec. 1. RCW 19.285.030 and 2024 c 278 s 1 are each amended to 6
read as follows: 7
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter 8
unless the context clearly requires otherwise. 9
(1) "Attorney general" means the Washington state office of the 10
attorney general. 11
(2) "Auditor" means: (a) The Washington state auditor's office or 12
its designee for qualifying utilities under its jurisdiction that are 13
not investor-owned utilities; or (b) an independent auditor selected 14
by a qualifying utility that is not under the jurisdiction of the 15
state auditor and is not an investor-owned utility.16
(3)(a) "Biomass energy" includes: (i) Organic by-products of 17
pulping and the wood manufacturing process; (ii) animal manure; (iii) 18
solid organic fuels from wood; (iv) forest or field residues; (v) 19
untreated wooden demolition or construction debris; (vi) food waste 20
H-0575.1
HOUSE BILL 1712
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Waters, Ybarra, Fey, Barnard, and Schmidt
Read first time 01/29/25. Referred to Committee on Environment &
Energy.
p. 1 HB 1712
and food processing residuals; (vii) liquors derived from algae; 1
(viii) dedicated energy crops; and (ix) yard waste.2
(b) "Biomass energy" does not include: (i) Wood pieces that have 3
been treated with chemical preservatives such as creosote, 4
pentachlorophenol, or copper-chrome-arsenic; (ii) wood from old 5
growth forests; or (iii) municipal solid waste. 6
(4) "Coal transition power" has the same meaning as defined in 7
RCW 80.80.010. 8
(5) "Commission" means the Washington state utilities and 9
transportation commission. 10
(6) "Conservation" means any reduction in electric power 11
consumption resulting from increases in the efficiency of energy use, 12
production, or distribution. 13
(7) "Cost-effective" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 14
80.52.030. 15
(8) "Council" means the Washington state apprenticeship and 16
training council within the department of labor and industries.17
(9) "Customer" means a person or entity that purchases 18
electricity for ultimate consumption and not for resale.19
(10) "Department" means the department of commerce or its 20
successor. 21
(11) "Distributed generation" means an eligible renewable 22
resource where the generation facility or any integrated cluster of 23
such facilities has a generating capacity of not more than five 24
megawatts. 25
(12) "Eligible renewable resource" means: 26
(a) Electricity from a generation facility powered by a renewable 27
resource other than fresh water that commences operation after March 28
31, 1999, where: (i) The facility is located in the Pacific 29
Northwest; or (ii) the electricity from the facility is delivered 30
into Washington state on a real -time basis without shaping, storage, 31
or integration services; 32
(b) Incremental electricity produced as a result of efficiency 33
improvements completed after March 31, 1999, to hydroelectric 34
generation projects owned by a qualifying utility and located in the 35
Pacific Northwest where the additional generation does not result in 36
new water diversions or impoundments; 37
(c) Hydroelectric generation from a project completed after March 38
31, 1999, where the generation facility is located in irrigation 39
pipes, irrigation canals, water pipes whose primary purpose is for 40
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conveyance of water for municipal use, and wastewater pipes located 1
in Washington where the generation does not result in new water 2
diversions or impoundments; 3
(d) Qualified biomass energy; 4
(e) For a qualifying utility that serves customers in other 5
states, electricity from a generation facility powered by a renewable 6
resource other than fresh water that commences operation after March 7
31, 1999, where: (i) The facility is located within a state in which 8
the qualifying utility serves retail electrical customers; and (ii) 9
the qualifying utility owns the facility in whole or in part or has a 10
long-term contract with the facility of at least twelve months or 11
more; 12
(f)(i) Incremental electricity produced as a result of a capital 13
investment completed after January 1, 2010, that increases, relative 14
to a baseline level of generation prior to the capital investment, 15
the amount of electricity generated in a facility that generates 16
qualified biomass energy as defined under subsection (18)(((c))) (d)17
(ii) of this section and that commenced operation before March 31, 18
1999. 19
(ii) Beginning January 1, 2007, the facility must demonstrate its 20
baseline level of generation over a three-year period prior to the 21
capital investment in order to calculate the amount of incremental 22
electricity produced. 23
(iii) The facility must demonstrate that the incremental 24
electricity resulted from the capital investment, which does not 25
include expenditures on operation and maintenance in the normal 26
course of business, through direct or calculated measurement;27
(g) That portion of incremental electricity produced as a result 28
of efficiency improvements completed after March 31, 1999, 29
attributable to a qualifying utility's share of the electricity 30
output from hydroelectric generation projects whose energy output is 31
marketed by the Bonneville power administration where the additional 32
generation does not result in new water diversions or impoundments; 33
or 34
(h) The environmental attributes, including renewable energy 35
credits, from (g) of this subsection transferred to investor-owned 36
utilities pursuant to the Bonneville power administration's 37
residential exchange program. 38
(13) "Investor-owned utility" has the same meaning as defined in 39
RCW 19.29A.010. 40
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(14)(a) "Load" means the amount of kilowatt-hours of electricity 1
delivered in the most recently completed year by a qualifying utility 2
to its Washington retail customers. 3
(b) "Load" does not include kilowatt-hours delivered to a 4
qualifying utility's system from an eligible renewable resource 5
through a voluntary renewable energy purchase by a retail electric 6
customer of the utility in which the renewable energy credits 7
associated with the kilowatt-hours delivered are retired on behalf of 8
the customer. 9
(15)(a) "Nonpower attributes" means all environmentally related 10
characteristics, exclusive of energy, capacity reliability, and other 11
electrical power service attributes, that are associated with the 12
generation of electricity from a renewable resource, including but 13
not limited to the facility's fuel type, geographic location, 14
vintage, qualification as an eligible renewable resource, and avoided 15
emissions of pollutants to the air, soil, or water, and avoided 16
emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.17
(b) "Nonpower attributes" does not include any aspects, claims, 18
characteristics, and benefits associated with the on-site capture and 19
destruction of methane or other greenhouse gases at a facility 20
through a digester system, landfill gas collection system, or other 21
mechanism, which may be separately marketable as greenhouse gas 22
emission reduction credits, offsets, or similar tradable commodities. 23
However, these separate avoided emissions may not result in or 24
otherwise have the effect of attributing greenhouse gas emissions to 25
the electricity. 26
(16) "Pacific Northwest" has the same meaning as defined for the 27
Bonneville power administration in section 3 of the Pacific Northwest 28
electric power planning and conservation act (94 Stat. 2698; 16 29
U.S.C. Sec. 839a). 30
(17) "Public facility" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 31
39.35C.010. 32
(18) "Qualified biomass energy" means electricity produced from a 33
biomass energy facility that: (a) Commenced operation before March 34
31, 1999; (b) ((contributes to the qualifying utility's load )) is 35
purchased by a qualifying utility from the facility; (c) is located 36
in the Pacific Northwest ; and (((c))) (d) is owned either by: (i) A 37
qualifying utility; or (ii) an industrial facility that is directly 38
interconnected with electricity facilities that are owned by a 39
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qualifying utility and capable of carrying electricity at 1
transmission voltage. 2
(19) "Qualifying utility" means an electric utility, as the term 3
"electric utility" is defined in RCW 19.29A.010, that serves more 4
than 25,000 customers in the state of Washington. The number of 5
customers served may be based on data reported by a utility in form 6
861, "annual electric utility report," filed with the energy 7
information administration, United States department of energy.8
(20) "Renewable energy credit" means a tradable certificate of 9
proof of one megawatt-hour of an eligible renewable resource. The 10
certificate includes all of the nonpower attributes associated with 11
that one megawatt-hour of electricity, and the certificate is 12
verified by a renewable energy credit tracking system selected by the 13
department. 14
(21) "Renewable resource" means: (a) Water; (b) wind; (c) solar 15
energy; (d) geothermal energy; (e) landfill gas; (f) wave, ocean, or 16
tidal power; (g) gas from sewage treatment facilities; (h) biodiesel 17
fuel that is not derived from crops raised on land cleared from old 18
growth or first-growth forests where the clearing occurred after 19
December 7, 2006; or (i) biomass energy. 20
(22) "Rule" means rules adopted by an agency or other entity of 21
Washington state government to carry out the intent and purposes of 22
this chapter. 23
(23) "Voluntary renewable energy purchase" means an elective 24
decision by a retail electric customer of a qualifying utility to 25
purchase eligible renewable resources directly or participate in a 26
program in which the electric utility purchases megawatt-hours from 27
eligible renewable resources, delivers those megawatt-hours to the 28
utility's system, and retires the associated renewable energy credits 29
on behalf of the retail electric customer. 30
(24) "Year" means the 12-month period commencing January 1st and 31
ending December 31st. 32
Sec. 2. RCW 19.285.040 and 2024 c 278 s 2 are each amended to 33
read as follows: 34
(1) Each qualifying utility shall pursue all available 35
conservation that is cost-effective, reliable, and feasible.36
(a) By January 1, 2010, using methodologies consistent with those 37
used by the Pacific Northwest electric power and conservation 38
planning council in the most recently published regional power plan 39
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as it existed on June 12, 2014, or a subsequent date as may be 1
provided by the department or the commission by rule, each qualifying 2
utility shall identify its achievable cost-effective conservation 3
potential through 2019. Nothing in the rule adopted under this 4
subsection precludes a qualifying utility from using its utility 5
specific conservation measures, values, and assumptions in 6
identifying its achievable cost-effective conservation potential. At 7
least every two years thereafter, the qualifying utility shall review 8
and update this assessment for the subsequent ten-year period.9
(b) Beginning January 2010, each qualifying utility shall 10
establish and make publicly available a biennial acquisition target 11
for cost-effective conservation consistent with its identification of 12
achievable opportunities in (a) of this subsection, and meet that 13
target during the subsequent two-year period. At a minimum, each 14
biennial target must be no lower than the qualifying utility's pro 15
rata share for that two-year period of its cost-effective 16
conservation potential for the subsequent ten-year period.17
(c)(i) Except as provided in (c)(ii) and (iii) of this 18
subsection, beginning on January 1, 2014, cost-effective conservation 19
achieved by a qualifying utility in excess of its biennial 20
acquisition target may be used to help meet the immediately 21
subsequent two biennial acquisition targets, such that no more than 22
20 percent of any biennial target may be met with excess conservation 23
savings. 24
(ii) Beginning January 1, 2014, a qualifying utility may use 25
single large facility conservation savings in excess of its biennial 26
target to meet up to an additional five percent of the immediately 27
subsequent two biennial acquisition targets, such that no more than 28
25 percent of any biennial target may be met with excess conservation 29
savings allowed under all of the provisions of this section combined. 30
For the purposes of this subsection (1)(c)(ii), "single large 31
facility conservation savings" means cost-effective conservation 32
savings achieved in a single biennial period at the premises of a 33
single customer of a qualifying utility whose annual electricity 34
consumption prior to the conservation savings exceeded five average 35
megawatts. 36
(iii) Beginning January 1, 2012, and until December 31, 2017, a 37
qualifying utility with an industrial facility located in a county 38
with a population between 95,000 and 115,000 that is directly 39
interconnected with electricity facilities that are capable of 40
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carrying electricity at transmission voltage may use cost-effective 1
conservation from that industrial facility in excess of its biennial 2
acquisition target to help meet the immediately subsequent two 3
biennial acquisition targets, such that no more than 25 percent of 4
any biennial target may be met with excess conservation savings 5
allowed under all of the provisions of this section combined.6
(d) In meeting its conservation targets, a qualifying utility may 7
count high-efficiency cogeneration owned and used by a retail 8
electric customer to meet its own needs. High-efficiency cogeneration 9
is the sequential production of electricity and useful thermal energy 10
from a common fuel source, where, under normal operating conditions, 11
the facility has a useful thermal energy output of no less than 33 12
percent of the total energy output. The reduction in load due to 13
high-efficiency cogeneration shall be: (i) Calculated as the ratio of 14
the fuel chargeable to power heat rate of the cogeneration facility 15
compared to the heat rate on a new and clean basis of a 16
best-commercially available technology combined -cycle natural 17
gas-fired combustion turbine; and (ii) counted towards meeting the 18
biennial conservation target in the same manner as other conservation 19
savings. 20
(e) A qualifying utility is considered in compliance with its 21
biennial acquisition target for cost-effective conservation in (b) of 22
this subsection if events beyond the reasonable control of the 23
utility that could not have been reasonably anticipated or 24
ameliorated prevented it from meeting the conservation target. Events 25
that a qualifying utility may demonstrate were beyond its reasonable 26
control, that could not have reasonably been anticipated or 27
ameliorated, and that prevented it from meeting the conservation 28
target include: (i) Natural disasters resulting in the issuance of 29
extended emergency declarations; (ii) the cancellation of significant 30
conservation projects; and (iii) actions of a governmental authority 31
that adversely affects the acquisition of cost-effective conservation 32
by the qualifying utility. 33
(f) The commission may determine if a conservation program 34
implemented by an investor-owned utility is cost -effective based on 35
the commission's policies and practice. 36
(g) In addition to the requirements of RCW 19.280.030(3), in 37
assessing the cost-effective conservation required under this 38
section, a qualifying utility is encouraged to promote the adoption 39
of air conditioning, as defined in RCW 70A.60.010, with refrigerants 40
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not exceeding a global warming potential of 750 and the replacement 1
of stationary refrigeration systems that contain ozone-depleting 2
substances or hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants with a high global 3
warming potential. 4
(h) The commission may rely on its standard practice for review 5
and approval of investor-owned utility conservation targets.6
(2)(a) Except as provided in (j) of this subsection, each 7
qualifying utility shall use eligible renewable resources or acquire 8
equivalent renewable energy credits, or any combination of them, to 9
meet the following annual targets: 10
(i) At least three percent of its load by January 1, 2012, and 11
each year thereafter through December 31, 2015; 12
(ii) At least nine percent of its load by January 1, 2016, and 13
each year thereafter through December 31, 2019; and14
(iii) At least 15 percent of its load by January 1, 2020, and 15
each year thereafter. 16
(b) A qualifying utility may count distributed generation at 17
double the facility's electrical output if the utility: (i) Owns or 18
has contracted for the distributed generation and the associated 19
renewable energy credits; or (ii) has contracted to purchase the 20
associated renewable energy credits. 21
(c) In meeting the annual targets in (a) of this subsection, a 22
qualifying utility shall calculate its annual load based on the 23
average of the utility's load for the previous two years.24
(d) A qualifying utility shall be considered in compliance with 25
an annual target in (a) of this subsection if: (i) The utility's 26
weather-adjusted load for the previous three years on average did not 27
increase over that time period; (ii) after December 7, 2006, the 28
utility did not commence or renew ownership or incremental purchases 29
of electricity from resources other than coal transition power or 30
renewable resources other than on a daily spot price basis and the 31
electricity is not offset by equivalent renewable energy credits; and 32
(iii) the utility invested at least one percent of its total annual 33
retail revenue requirement that year on eligible renewable resources, 34
renewable energy credits, or a combination of both.35
(e) A qualifying utility may use renewable energy credits to meet 36
the requirements of this section, subject to the limitations of this 37
subsection. 38
(i) A renewable energy credit from electricity generated by a 39
resource other than freshwater may be used to meet a requirement 40
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applicable to the year in which the credit was created, the year 1
before the year in which the credit was created, or the year after 2
the year in which the credit was created. 3
(ii) A renewable energy credit from electricity generated by 4
freshwater: 5
(A) May only be used to meet a requirement applicable to the year 6
in which the credit was created; and 7
(B) Must be acquired by the qualifying utility through ownership 8
of the generation facility or through a transaction that conveyed 9
both the electricity and the nonpower attributes of the electricity.10
(iii) A renewable energy credit transferred to an investor-owned 11
utility pursuant to the Bonneville power administration's residential 12
exchange program may not be used by any utility other than the 13
utility receiving the credit from the Bonneville power 14
administration. 15
(iv) Each renewable energy credit may only be used once to meet 16
the requirements of this section and must be retired using procedures 17
of the renewable energy credit tracking system. 18
(f) In complying with the targets established in (a) of this 19
subsection, a qualifying utility may not count: 20
(i) Eligible renewable resources or distributed generation where 21
the associated renewable energy credits are owned by a separate 22
entity; or 23
(ii) Eligible renewable resources or renewable energy credits 24
obtained for and used in an optional pricing program such as the 25
program established in RCW 19.29A.090. 26
(g) Where fossil and combustible renewable resources are cofired 27
in one generating unit located in the Pacific Northwest where the 28
cofiring commenced after March 31, 1999, the unit shall be considered 29
to produce eligible renewable resources in direct proportion to the 30
percentage of the total heat value represented by the heat value of 31
the renewable resources. 32
(h)(i) A qualifying utility that acquires an eligible renewable 33
resource or renewable energy credit may count that acquisition at one 34
and two-tenths times its base value: 35
(A) Where the eligible renewable resource comes from a facility 36
that commenced operation after December 31, 2005; and37
(B) Where the developer of the facility used apprenticeship 38
programs approved by the council during facility construction.39
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(ii) The council shall establish minimum levels of labor hours to 1
be met through apprenticeship programs to qualify for this extra 2
credit. 3
(i) A qualifying utility shall be considered in compliance with 4
an annual target in (a) of this subsection if events beyond the 5
reasonable control of the utility that could not have been reasonably 6
anticipated or ameliorated prevented it from meeting the renewable 7
energy target. Such events include weather -related damage, mechanical 8
failure, strikes, lockouts, and actions of a governmental authority 9
that adversely affect the generation, transmission, or distribution 10
of an eligible renewable resource under contract to a qualifying 11
utility. 12
(j)(i) Beginning January 1, 2016, only a qualifying utility that 13
owns or is directly interconnected to a qualified biomass energy 14
facility may use qualified biomass energy to meet its compliance 15
obligation under this subsection. 16
(ii) ((A)) If a qualified biomass energy facility that engaged in 17
industrial pulping or wood manufacturing ceases operation other than 18
for purposes of maintenance or upgrade, then a qualifying utility may 19
no longer use electricity and associated renewable energy credits 20
from ((a)) that qualified biomass energy facility ((if the associated 21
industrial pulping or wood manufacturing facility ceases operation 22
other than for purposes of maintenance or upgrade)).23
(k) An industrial facility that hosts a qualified biomass energy 24
facility may only transfer or sell renewable energy credits 25
associated with qualified biomass energy generated at its facility to 26
the qualifying utility with which it is directly interconnected with 27
facilities owned by such a qualifying utility and that are capable of 28
carrying electricity at transmission voltage. ((The)) If a qualified 29
biomass energy facility engages in industrial pulping or wood 30
manufacturing, then the qualifying utility may only use an amount of 31
renewable energy credits associated with that qualified biomass 32
energy facility that ((are)) is equivalent to the proportionate 33
amount of ((its)) the qualified utility's annual targets under 34
(a)(ii) and (iii) of this subsection that was created by the load of 35
the industrial facility. A qualifying utility that owns a qualified 36
biomass energy facility may not transfer or sell renewable energy 37
credits associated with qualified biomass energy to another person, 38
entity, or qualifying utility. 39
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(l) Beginning January 1, 2020, a qualifying utility may use 1
eligible renewable resources as identified under RCW 19.285.030(12) 2
(g) and (h) to meet its compliance obligation under this subsection 3
(2). A qualifying utility may not transfer or sell these eligible 4
renewable resources to another utility for compliance purposes under 5
this chapter. 6
(m) Beginning January 1, 2030, a qualifying utility is considered 7
to be in compliance with an annual target in (a) of this subsection 8
if the utility uses electricity from: (i) Renewable resources and 9
renewable energy credits as defined in RCW 19.285.030; and (ii) 10
nonemitting electric generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, in an 11
amount equal to 100 percent of the utility's average annual retail 12
electric load. Nothing in this subsection relieves the requirements 13
of a qualifying utility to comply with subsection (1) of this 14
section. 15
(n) A qualifying utility shall exclude from its annual targets 16
under this subsection (2) its voluntary renewable energy purchases.17
(3) Utilities that become qualifying utilities after December 31, 18
2006, shall meet the requirements in this section on a time frame 19
comparable in length to that provided for qualifying utilities as of 20
December 7, 2006. 21
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