Large energy use facilities

AN ACT Relating to addressing emerging large energy use 1
facilities; amending RCW 19.29A.010 and 70A.65.120; adding new 2
sections to chapter 19.29A RCW; and creating a new section.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that data centers 5
are emerging large energy use facilities that have the potential to 6
significantly affect Washington's energy affordability and 7
reliability, local communities, jobs, environment, and economy.8
Data centers are projected to grow rapidly over the next several 9
years, making up the largest source of expected electricity load 10
growth in the Pacific Northwest. The legislature established tax 11
incentives for data centers starting in 2010. However, since that 12
time, the data center industry has undergone major changes. Data 13
centers are growing larger to support artificial intelligence, and 14
there is high uncertainty about many aspects of the future of this 15
rapidly evolving, emerging industry. 16
The development of data centers has brought benefits including 17
construction jobs and significant new tax revenues to Washington, 18
especially to rural communities. Data centers are also major users of 19
electricity, water, and refrigerant chemicals, though information 20
H-2906.2
HOUSE BILL 2515
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Doglio, Ramel, Wylie, Stearns, Duerr, Parshley,
Ryu, Simmons, Kloba, Berry, Scott, Fosse, Pollet, Macri, Street, and
Reed
Read first time 01/15/26. Referred to Committee on Environment &
Energy.
p. 1 HB 2515
about data center resource use and environmental impacts is difficult 1
if not impossible for the public to access. 2
The legislature intends to enact policies governing these 3
emerging large energy use facilities, currently defined as data 4
centers and cryptocurrency facilities, while recognizing that other 5
such industries may emerge in the future with their facilities 6
requiring similar policies. 7
For emerging large energy use facilities, the legislature's 8
policy priorities are affordability, grid reliability, transparency, 9
and environmental protection. The legislature intends to protect 10
energy affordability for consumers; ensure that data center energy 11
demands do not harm the reliability of the electric grid; require 12
transparency about energy, water, and refrigerant use; and require 13
the use of 100 percent clean energy over time. 14
The technology industry plays an important role in 15
Washingtonians' lives and in the state's economy. The legislature 16
intends to require data centers to meet a high standard for 17
performance, building on the industry's ability to innovate and lead, 18
while protecting and delivering benefits to Washington consumers, 19
workers, communities, and environment. 20
Sec. 2. RCW 19.29A.010 and 2019 c 222 s 2 are each amended to 21
read as follows: 22
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter 23
unless the context clearly requires otherwise. 24
(1) "Biomass generation" has the same meaning as "biomass energy" 25
defined in RCW 19.285.030. 26
(2) "Bonneville power administration system mix" means a 27
generation mix sold by the Bonneville power administration that is 28
net of any resource specific sales. 29
(3) "Commission" means the utilities and transportation 30
commission. 31
(4) "Conservation" means an increase in efficiency in the use of 32
energy use that yields a decrease in energy consumption while 33
providing the same or higher levels of service. Conservation includes 34
low-income weatherization programs. 35
(5) "Consumer-owned utility" means a municipal electric utility 36
formed under Title 35 RCW, a public utility district formed under 37
Title 54 RCW, an irrigation district formed under chapter 87.03 RCW, 38
a cooperative formed under chapter 23.86 RCW, ((or)) a mutual 39
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corporation or association formed under chapter 24.06 RCW, or a port 1
district formed under Title 53 RCW, that is engaged in the business 2
of distributing electricity to ((more than )) at least one retail 3
electric customer in the state. 4
(6) "Declared resource" means an electricity source specifically 5
identified by a retail supplier to serve retail electric customers. A 6
declared resource includes a stated quantity of electricity tied 7
directly to a specified generation facility or set of facilities 8
either through ownership or contract purchase, or a contractual right 9
to a stated quantity of electricity from a specified generation 10
facility or set of facilities. 11
(7) "Demand response" has the same meaning as in RCW 19.405.020.12
(8) "Department" means the department of commerce.13
(((8))) (9) "Electric meters in service" means those meters that 14
record in at least nine of twelve calendar months in any calendar 15
year not less than two hundred fifty kilowatt-hours per month.16
(((9))) (10) "Electric utility" means a consumer-owned or 17
investor-owned utility as defined in this section.18
(((10))) (11) "Electricity" means electric energy measured in 19
kilowatt-hours, or electric capacity measured in kilowatts, or both.20
(((11))) (12) "Electricity product" means the electrical energy 21
produced by a generating facility or facilities that a retail 22
supplier sells or offers to sell to retail electric customers in the 23
state of Washington, provided that nothing in this title shall be 24
construed to mean that electricity is a good or product for the 25
purposes of Title 62A RCW, or any other purpose. It does not include 26
electrical energy generated on-site at a retail electric customer's 27
premises. 28
(((12))) (13) "Electricity product content label" means 29
information presented in a uniform format by a retail supplier to its 30
retail customers and disclosing the information required in RCW 31
19.29A.060 about the characteristics of an electricity product.32
(((13))) (14) "Emerging large energy use facility" means a 33
facility that has a maximum aggregate contract demand of 20 megawatts 34
or more and is primarily engaged in providing a service described 35
under code 518210 of the 2022 North American industry classification 36
system.37
(15) "Emerging large energy use facility tariff or contract" 38
means the terms set by an electric utility for providing electricity 39
service to an emerging large energy use facility electric customer, 40
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and includes electric rates to be charged to the customer for 1
electricity service. 2
(16) "Facility" means any physical property, plant, building, 3
structure, source, or stationary equipment located on one or more 4
contiguous or adjacent properties in actual physical contact or 5
separated solely by a public roadway or other public right-of-way and 6
under common ownership or common control.7
(17) "Fuel attribute" means the characteristic of electricity 8
determined by the fuel used in the generation of that electricity. 9
For a renewable resource, the fuel attribute is included in its 10
nonpower attributes. 11
(((14))) (18) "Fuel mix" means the sources of electricity sold to 12
retail electric customers, expressed in terms of percentage 13
contribution by resource category. The total fuel mix included in 14
each disclosure shall total one hundred percent. 15
(((15))) (19) "Governing body" means the council of a city or 16
town, the commissioners of an irrigation district, municipal electric 17
utility, or public utility district, or the board of directors of an 18
electric cooperative or mutual association that has the authority to 19
set and approve rates. 20
(((16))) (20) "Investor-owned utility" means a company owned by 21
investors that meets the definition of RCW 80.04.010 and is engaged 22
in distributing electricity to one or more retail electric customers 23
in the state. 24
(((17))) (21) "Marginal load" means at least two percent of an 25
emerging large energy use facility's maximum contract demand amount.26
(22) "Nonpower attributes" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 27
19.285.030. 28
(((18))) (23) "Private customer information" includes a retail 29
electric customer's name, address, telephone number, and other 30
personally identifying information. 31
(((19))) (24) "Proprietary customer information" means: (a) 32
Information that relates to the source, technical configuration, 33
destination, and amount of electricity used by a retail electric 34
customer, a retail electric customer's payment history, and household 35
data that is made available by the customer solely by virtue of the 36
utility-customer relationship; and (b) information contained in a 37
retail electric customer's bill. 38
(((20))) (25) "Renewable energy certificate" means a tradable 39
certificate of proof of one megawatt-hour of electricity from a 40
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renewable resource. The certificate includes all of the nonpower 1
attributes associated with that one megawatt-hour of electricity, and 2
the certificate is verified by a renewable energy certificate 3
tracking system specified by the department. 4
(((21))) (26) "Renewable resource" has the same meaning as 5
defined in RCW 19.285.030. 6
(((22))) (27) "Resale" means the purchase and subsequent sale of 7
electricity for profit, but does not include the purchase and the 8
subsequent sale of electricity at the same rate at which the 9
electricity was purchased. 10
(((23))) (28) "Retail electric customer" means a person or entity 11
that purchases electricity for ultimate consumption and not for 12
resale. 13
(((24))) (29) "Retail supplier" means an electric utility that 14
offers an electricity product for sale to retail electric customers 15
in the state. 16
(((25))) (30) "Small utility" means any consumer-owned utility 17
with twenty-five thousand or fewer electric meters in service, or 18
that has an average of seven or fewer customers per mile of 19
distribution line. 20
(((26))) (31) "Source and disposition report" means the report 21
required in RCW 19.29A.140. 22
(((27))) (32) "State" means the state of Washington.23
(((28))) (33) "Unspecified source" means an electricity source 24
for which the fuel attribute is unknown or has been separated from 25
the energy. 26
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A 27
RCW to read as follows: 28
(1)(a) By October 1, 2026, each investor-owned utility with an 29
emerging large energy use facility in its service territory must 30
submit to the commission and make publicly available an emerging 31
large energy use facility tariff or contract for large energy use 32
facilities in the utility's service area. 33
(b) Within 10 months of submission by an investor-owned utility, 34
the commission, under the authority granted by RCW 80.04.130(1), must 35
review an emerging large energy use facility tariff or contract and 36
approve, disapprove, or approve with modifications the tariff or 37
contract. The commission may approve a large load energy facility 38
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tariff or contract only if it meets the standards outlined in 1
subsection (4) of this section. 2
(2)(a) By October 1, 2026, each consumer-owned utility with an 3
emerging large energy use facility in its service territory must 4
submit an emerging large energy use facility tariff or contract to 5
its governing board for review and approval. 6
(b) Within 10 months of submission, the governing body of a 7
consumer-owned utility must approve an emerging large energy use 8
facility tariff or contract that meets the standards outlined in 9
subsection (4) of this section. 10
(c) A consumer-owned utility's tariff or contract must limit the 11
offer of electricity service to an emerging large energy use facility 12
if offering such service would adversely affect the reliability or 13
affordability of electricity service to other ratepayers in the 14
utility's service area. 15
(3) An electric utility without an emerging large energy use 16
facility in its service territory is not required to develop an 17
emerging large energy use facility tariff or contract until the 18
utility plans to serve a new emerging large energy use facility.19
(4) All electric utility emerging large energy use tariff or 20
contract submissions must be designed to avoid immediate and long-21
term risks to electric customers including, but not limited to, 22
shifts of costs from large energy use facilities to other electric 23
customers, and stranded utility assets. Specifically, the tariffs or 24
contracts must require emerging large energy use facilities to:25
(a) Provide at least 10-year contractual service commitments by 26
the facility to the electric utility, which may include, but are not 27
limited to: 28
(i) Collateral requirements, such as, if the facility does not 29
have a credit rating of at least A- from S&P Global Inc. and A3 from 30
Moody's Corporation, in addition to cash and cash equivalents on an 31
audited balance sheet prepared in accordance with generally accepted 32
accounting principles greater than 10 times the collateral 33
requirement, the facility must provide a guarantee or collateral at 34
the time of signing a tariff or contract equal to 50 percent of the 35
total minimum charges for the full term of the contract;36
(ii) Annual charges of 85 percent of projected electricity demand 37
whether or not the facility uses its full projected demand to pay for 38
infrastructure upgrades needed to serve the facility;39
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(iii) Exit fees equal to five years of the facility's minimum 1
bill requirement in the event of a permanent closure; and2
(iv) Other provisions to hold the electric utility and other 3
ratepayers harmless if the facility were to substantially change its 4
operations; 5
(b) Pay the electric utility for the full costs of serving the 6
facility, including: 7
(i) The direct costs for the utility to interconnect the facility 8
to the utility's grid, which may include the costs for the utility to 9
study what would be needed for interconnection; and10
(ii) The costs of providing electricity service to the facility 11
including, as applicable, energy generation, transmission, 12
distribution, and capacity and ancillary electricity services;13
(c) Demonstrate to the electric utility that the facility has, or 14
plans to have, adequate power supply, either through purchasing 15
electricity from an entity that is not the utility or by generating 16
its own electricity, if the utility does not have adequate power 17
supply for the facility; 18
(d) Curtail the use of electricity provided to the facility from 19
the electric utility during an energy emergency event at the request 20
of the electric utility; 21
(e) Pay real-time wholesale electricity prices; and22
(f) Demonstrate that the facility's marginal load is served under 23
a contract between the electric utility and the facility where:24
(i) The marginal load participates in a demand response or 25
interruptible load program of the interconnected electric utility; or26
(ii) The facility funds the costs, including proportional 27
administrative costs and any applicable start-up costs, of providing 28
peak demand reductions at least equal to the facility's marginal 29
load, for a utility's demand response program that serves other 30
retail electric customers. 31
(5) Any contract between an electric utility and an emerging 32
large energy use facility must conform to the requirements in 33
subsection (4) of this section. 34
(6)(a) An emerging large energy use facility that commences 35
operation on or after August 1, 2027, must agree to the terms of an 36
electric utility's approved emerging large energy use tariff or 37
contract before receiving electricity service, if seeking service, or 38
to maintain electricity service, if already receiving service from 39
the electric utility. 40
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(b) An emerging large energy use facility that commenced 1
operation prior to August 1, 2027, is subject to the terms of an 2
approved emerging large energy use facility tariff or contract of its 3
servicing electric utility by January 1, 2028. 4
(c) An emerging large energy use facility operating under a 5
tariff or contract with an electric utility prior to August 1, 2027, 6
may continue operating under such a tariff or contract until January 7
1, 2028. 8
(7) The commission and consumer-owned utility governing boards 9
must consider applying similar tariff or contract terms to similar 10
future emerging large loads. 11
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A 12
RCW to read as follows: 13
The owner of each emerging large energy use facility in the state 14
must: 15
(1) Publish a sustainability report demonstrating how the 16
emerging large energy use facility will address and balance energy, 17
water, and computing performance to maximize energy efficiency, water 18
efficiency, and overall sustainability. The report must include 19
projected annual energy and water consumption for three years and the 20
source of the energy and water. The report must also provide evidence 21
that the facility has access to an adequate water supply for the 22
intended use of the facility through an existing or third-party water 23
system or through a state-issued water right, as applicable.24
(a) For proposed emerging large energy use facilities, the owner 25
must publish such a report prior to, or at the same time as, filing 26
an application for any state or local permit. 27
(b) For emerging large energy use facilities in operation prior 28
to enactment of this act, the owner must publish such a report by 29
January 1, 2027. 30
(c) For emerging large energy use facilities in operation, the 31
owner must update the report and publish the update every three 32
years. 33
(d) The owner must make these reports publicly available 34
electronically. Upon posting electronically, the owner must also 35
submit a copy to the department, the department of ecology, and the 36
local jurisdiction or jurisdictions it is proposing to locate in, or 37
is located in. 38
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(2) Annually report the following information in one report to 1
the department of ecology by March 31st each year for the previous 2
year: 3
(a) The facility's annual water consumption. The report must 4
include daily water quantities, total and peak uses, and any 5
effluents that are discharged outside the emerging large energy use 6
facility. The report may provide context by comparing the facility's 7
water use to other users. 8
(b) The facility's server cooling technology and any associated 9
use of regulated refrigerants as defined in RCW 70A.60.010 and 10
regulated refrigerant substitutes. The report must include monthly 11
and annual quantities used, and of any quantities disposed outside 12
the facility, including the entity who receives the material.13
(c) The facility's annual energy consumption. The report must 14
include the source of the energy, and annual and monthly energy use, 15
including peak demands. The report may provide context by comparing 16
the facility's energy use to other users. 17
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A 18
RCW to read as follows: 19
(1)(a) The commission and the department must jointly develop 20
reporting standards for emerging large energy use facilities to 21
improve resource forecasting. Reporting standards may include, but 22
are not limited to, standards on data quality, documentation, 23
commercial readiness criteria, and information about associated 24
transmission needs. The commission and the department must develop 25
the standards by December 31, 2026. 26
(b) After December 31, 2026, each emerging large energy use 27
facility that is interconnected with an electric utility must provide 28
a report, consistent with the reporting standards, to its 29
interconnected electric utility by July 1st of each year. Each 30
emerging large energy use facility that is not interconnected with an 31
electric utility must submit this report to the department.32
(c) Each electric utility must consolidate any emerging large 33
energy use facility reports it receives and submit an aggregated 34
report to the commission in the case of investor-owned utilities and 35
to the department in the case of consumer-owned utilities by December 36
1st of each year. 37
(2) The commission and the department must further collaborate to 38
improve resource forecasting of emerging large energy use facility 39
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loads. Collaboration may include facilitating a work group of 1
electric utilities to establish standardized commercial readiness 2
criteria across electric utilities for emerging large energy use 3
facilities to enter interconnection queues. 4
(3) When requesting interconnection with an electric utility, 5
each emerging large energy use facility must: 6
(a) Disclose duplicative interconnection requests across 7
balancing authorities to the electric utility; and 8
(b) Provide a report, consistent with the reporting standards 9
developed in subsection (1) of this section, to the electric utility.10
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A 11
RCW to read as follows: 12
(1) The owner of an emerging large energy use facility that 13
commences operation after July 1, 2026, or an expanded emerging large 14
energy use facility must: 15
(a) Beginning in 2031 and every year thereafter, certify to the 16
department that for the prior year it used electricity from renewable 17
resources or nonemitting electric generation as defined in RCW 18
19.405.020, where the electricity generation facility commenced 19
operation on or after January 1, 2026, to serve the load of the 20
emerging large energy use facility in an amount that meets or exceeds 21
80 percent of its annual energy and capacity requirements; and22
(b) Beginning in 2036 and every year thereafter, certify to the 23
department by January 1st each year that for the prior year it used 24
electricity from renewable resources or nonemitting electric 25
generation as defined in RCW 19.405.020, to serve the load of the 26
emerging large energy use facility in an amount that meets 100 27
percent of its annual energy and capacity requirements.28
(2) As part of demonstrating compliance with the requirements in 29
subsection (1) of this section: 30
(a) The emerging large energy use facility must acquire the 31
electricity with the renewable energy credit as defined in RCW 32
19.405.020 in a single transaction through ownership or control of 33
the generating facility or through a contract for purchase or 34
exchange; and 35
(b) The emerging large energy use facility must not use the 36
associated electricity for any purpose other than supplying its new 37
emerging large energy use facility. 38
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(3) Each emerging large energy use facility using a renewable 1
energy credit under this chapter must document the following: (a) The 2
renewable energy credit represents the output of a renewable 3
resource; (b) the vintage of the renewable energy credit is the 4
compliance year; and (c) that the emerging large energy use facility 5
has retired the renewable energy credit to a retirement subaccount 6
within the western renewable energy information system designated by 7
the department. 8
(4) The requirements in this section are in addition to any 9
requirements the emerging large energy use facility may have as an 10
affected market customer under chapter 19.405 RCW.11
(5) For the purposes of this section, "expanded emerging large 12
energy use facility" means an emerging large energy use facility with 13
an increase of 20,000 square feet or more dedicated for housing 14
working servers or an increase of 20 megawatts or more in annual 15
electricity consumption, where the increase occurred on or after July 16
1, 2026. 17
Sec. 7. RCW 70A.65.120 and 2021 c 316 s 14 are each amended to 18
read as follows: 19
(1) The legislature intends by this section to allow all 20
consumer-owned electric utilities and investor-owned electric 21
utilities subject to the requirements of chapter 19.405 RCW, the 22
Washington clean energy transformation act, to be eligible for 23
allowance allocation as provided in this section in order to mitigate 24
the cost burden of the program on electricity customers , other than, 25
starting for calendar year 2027, those customers that are emerging 26
large energy use facilities as defined in section 2 of this act. For 27
no-cost allowances distributed starting in calendar year 2026, the 28
department may not provide allowance allocation to mitigate the cost 29
burden of the program on electricity customers that are emerging 30
large energy use facilities as defined in section 2 of this act. The 31
department may adjust the definition of emerging large energy use 32
facilities for these purposes by rule making informed by the 33
reporting required in sections 4 and 5 of this act.34
(2)(a) By October 1, 2022, the department shall adopt rules, in 35
consultation with the department of commerce and the utilities and 36
transportation commission, establishing the methods and procedures 37
for allocating allowances for consumer-owned and investor-owned 38
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electric utilities. The rules must take into account the cost burden 1
of the program on electricity customers. 2
(b) By October 1, 2022, the department shall adopt an allocation 3
schedule by rule, in consultation with the department of commerce and 4
the utilities and transportation commission, for the first compliance 5
period for the provision of allowances at no cost to consumer-owned 6
and investor-owned electric utilities. This allocation must be 7
consistent with a forecast, that is approved by the appropriate 8
governing board or the utilities and transportation commission, of 9
each utility's supply and demand, and the cost burden resulting from 10
the inclusion of the covered entities in the first compliance period.11
(c) By October 1, 2026, the department shall adopt an allocation 12
schedule by rule, in consultation with the department of commerce and 13
the utilities and transportation commission, for the provision of 14
allowances for the second compliance period at no cost to consumer-15
owned and investor-owned electric utilities. This allocation must be 16
consistent with a forecast, that is approved by the appropriate 17
governing board or the utilities and transportation commission, of 18
each utility's supply and demand, and the cost burden resulting from 19
the inclusion of covered entities in the second compliance period. 20
((The allowances included in this schedule must reflect the increased 21
scope of coverage in the electricity sector relative to the program 22
budget of allowances established in 2022.))23
(d) By October 1, 2028, the department shall adopt an allocation 24
schedule by rule, in consultation with the department of commerce and 25
the utilities and transportation commission, for the provision of 26
allowances at no cost to consumer-owned and investor-owned electric 27
utilities for the compliance periods contained within calendar years 28
2031 through 2045 consistent with subsection (1) of this section . 29
This allocation must be consistent with a forecast, that is approved 30
by the appropriate governing board or the utilities and 31
transportation commission, of each utility's supply and demand, and 32
the cost burden resulting from the inclusion of the covered entities 33
in the compliance periods. The rule developed under this subsection 34
(2)(d) may prescribe an amount of allowances allocated at no cost 35
that must be consigned to auction by consumer-owned and investor-36
owned electric utilities. However, utilities may use allowances for 37
compliance equal to their covered emissions in any calendar year they 38
were not subject to potential penalty under RCW 19.405.090. Under no 39
circumstances may utilities receive any free allowances after 2045.40
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(3)(a) During the first compliance period, allowances allocated 1
at no cost to consumer-owned and investor-owned electric utilities 2
may be consigned to auction for the benefit of ratepayers, deposited 3
for compliance, or a combination of both. The rules adopted by the 4
department under subsection (2) of this section must include 5
provisions for directing revenues generated under this subsection to 6
the applicable utilities. 7
(b) By October 1, 2026, the department, in consultation with the 8
department of commerce and the utilities and transportation 9
commission, must adopt rules governing the amount of allowances 10
allocated at no cost under subsection (2)(c) of this section that 11
must be consigned to auction. For calendar year 2030, electric 12
utilities may use allowances for compliance equal to their covered 13
emissions if not subject to potential penalty under RCW 19.405.090.14
(4) The benefits of all allowances consigned to auction under 15
this section must be used by consumer-owned and investor-owned 16
electric utilities for the benefit of ratepayers, with the first 17
priority the mitigation of any rate impacts to low-income customers. 18
Starting for no-cost allowances provided for calendar year 2027, the 19
benefits of allowances consigned to auction under this section may 20
not be used by consumer-owned and investor-owned electric utilities 21
for the primary benefit of emerging large energy use facilities.22
(5) If an entity is identified by the department as an emissions-23
intensive, trade-exposed industry under RCW 70A.65.110, unless 24
allowances have been otherwise allocated for electricity-related 25
emissions to the entity under RCW 70A.65.110 or to a consumer-owned 26
utility under this section, the department shall allocate allowances 27
at no cost to the electric utility or power marketing administration 28
that is providing electricity to the entity in an amount equal to the 29
forecasted emissions for electricity consumption for the entity for 30
the compliance period. 31
(6) The department shall allow for allowances to be transferred 32
between a power marketing administration and electric utilities and 33
used for direct compliance. 34
(7) Rules establishing the allocation of allowances to consumer-35
owned utilities and investor-owned utilities must consider , in a 36
manner consistent with subsection (1) of this section, the impact of 37
electrification of buildings, transportation, and industry on the 38
electricity sector. 39
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(8) Nothing in this section affects the requirements of chapter 1
19.405 RCW. 2
(9) A consumer-owned utility that is party to a contract that 3
meets the following conditions must be issued allowances under this 4
section for emissions associated with imported electricity, in order 5
to prevent impairment of the value of the contract to either party:6
(a) The contract does not address compliance costs imposed upon 7
the consumer-owned utility by the program created in this chapter; 8
and 9
(b) The contract was in effect as of July 25, 2021, and expires 10
no later than the end of the first compliance period.11
(10) By July 31st each year, starting in calendar year 2026, each 12
utility must provide to the department a list of existing and 13
forecast retail customers that are emerging large energy use 14
facilities to enable the department to provide allowance allocation 15
consistent with subsection (1) of this section. For each facility the 16
utility must indicate the forecast maximum delivery of power to the 17
facility for the following four years, forecast annual retail load in 18
megawatt-hours for the following four years, customer name, and 19
facility type. The department may update these reporting requirements 20
by rule.21
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A 22
RCW to read as follows: 23
(1) Beginning July 1, 2026, each emerging large energy use 24
facility must pay a fee to the department of revenue. The emerging 25
large energy use facility fee is due annually each July 1st.26
(2) The fee is $0.005 per kilowatt hour. 27
(3) The fee is to be paid in the manner and form prescribed by 28
the department of revenue. 29
(4) The proceeds of this fee must be deposited into the emerging 30
large energy use facility account created in section 9 of this act.31
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A 32
RCW to read as follows: 33
The emerging large energy use facility account is created in the 34
state treasury. All receipts from emerging large energy use 35
facilities as authorized in section 8 of this act must be deposited 36
in the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after 37
appropriation. Sixty percent of the expenditures from the account 38
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must be used for energy assistance, weatherization, low-income home 1
electrification, and related readiness upgrade purposes, which may 2
include the following programs administered by the department of 3
commerce: The low-income residential weatherization program as 4
described in chapter 70A.35 RCW, the state home energy assistance 5
program, and the low-income home rehabilitation grant program as 6
described in chapter 43.330 RCW. It is the intent of the legislature 7
for these funds to add to rather than supplant or reduce other state 8
investments for these purposes. Forty percent of the expenditures 9
from the account must be appropriated to the student achievement 10
council to distribute to public institutions of higher education as 11
defined in chapter 28B.10 RCW for the following higher education 12
purposes: Career services, quantum computing education, and 13
artificial intelligence education for educators. 14
NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A 15
RCW to read as follows: 16
(1) For any behind the meter energy system project, owned by an 17
emerging large energy use facility, the facility receiving power from 18
the system must ensure that any work associated with such a project 19
will be performed by a prime contractor and its subcontractors in a 20
way that includes community workforce agreements or project labor 21
agreements, and the payment of area standard prevailing wages and 22
apprenticeship utilization requirements. 23
(2) Community workforce agreements and project labor agreements 24
are self-contained, stand-alone agreements, and that by virtue of 25
having become bound to such an agreement or agreements, neither the 26
prime contractor nor the subcontractors are obligated to sign any 27
other local, area, or national agreement. 28
(3) Nothing in this section supersedes RCW 19.28.091 or 29
19.28.261. 30
(4) For the purposes of this section: 31
(a) "Project labor agreement" and "community workforce agreement" 32
means a prehire collective bargaining agreement with one or more 33
labor organizations that establishes the terms and conditions of 34
employment for a specific construction project and is an agreement 35
described in 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(f). 36
(b) "Terms and conditions of employment for a specific 37
construction project" means the project labor agreement or community 38
workforce agreement is a single agreement covering all labor 39
p. 15 HB 2515
organizations representing the building and construction employees 1
involved in the project and covering all contractors and 2
subcontractors working on the project. 3
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p. 16 HB 2515