SF 2096 (LSB 5515XS (6) 87)

SENATE FILE 2096

BY  BOLKCOM, DOTZLER, QUIRMBACH, DVORSKY, JOCHUM, HORN, McCOY, PETERSEN, BOULTON, and HOGG

A BILL FOR

An Act establishing a solar energy minimum purchase standard applicable to specified electric utilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 476.44, subsection 2, Code 2018, is amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 2.  NEW SECTION.  476.44B  Solar energy minimum purchase standard.
   An electric utility required to be rate-regulated under this chapter shall produce or purchase, by July 1 of the designated year, the following minimum amounts of electricity generated by solar energy facilities:
   1.  One thousand five hundred megawatts in 2020.
   2.  Two thousand megawatts in 2022.
   3.  Three thousand megawatts in 2025, and each year thereafter.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Electric utilities are currently required to either own or purchase their proportionate share of 105 megawatts of power from alternative energy production facilities or small hydro facilities, as those terms are defined in Code section 476.42. That proportionate share is allocated by the Iowa utilities board.
   This bill replaces this requirement with a solar energy minimum purchase standard applicable to electric utilities required to be rate-regulated under Code chapter 476. The bill requires rate-regulated electric utilities to either produce or purchase the following amounts of solar energy as specified: 1,500 megawatts by July 1, 2020; 2,000 megawatts by July 1, 2022; and 3,000 megawatts by July 1, 2025, and each year thereafter.