CHAPTER 21-I DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
State Facility Energy Cost Reduction
Section 21-I:19-b
21-I:19-b Definitions. –
In this subdivision:
I. "Cogeneration" means the simultaneous production of electric energy and other forms of useful energy, such as steam or heat, which are used for industrial, commercial, heating, or cooling purposes from a single fuel input.
II. "Date of project implementation" means the expected date established in the energy performance contract that the construction, improvement, repair, alteration, or betterment is to be completed and become operational. If the energy performance contract includes more than one energy cost saving measure, the "date of project implementation" may be alternatively defined by the contracting state agency or municipality to be the date that the last of the energy cost saving measures is expected to become operational.
III. "Demand response program" means a program under which the state receives payment for voluntarily reducing electricity demand in response to grid instability as dictated by the regional independent system operator or in response to high wholesale electricity prices.
IV. "Energy cost saving measure" means any construction, improvement, repair, alteration, or betterment of any building or facility or any equipment, fixture, or furnishing to be added to or used in any building or facility that will be a cost effective energy-related project. This shall include any project that will lower energy or utility costs in connection with the operation or maintenance of such building or facility and will achieve energy cost savings sufficient to recover any project costs or incurred debt service within 20 years from the date of project implementation.
V. "Energy performance contract" means an agreement for the provision of energy services or equipment or both. This shall include, but shall not be limited to, energy conservation-enhancing projects in buildings and alternate energy technologies, in which a private sector person or company agrees to finance, design, construct, install, maintain, operate, or manage energy systems or equipment to improve the energy efficiency of, or produce energy in connection with, a state government agency or facility in exchange for a portion of the energy cost savings or specified revenues. The level of payments made would be contingent upon measured energy cost savings or energy production.
VI. "Energy storage" refers to batteries, compressed air energy systems, heat storage, or any other technology, system, or device capable of capturing energy produced at one point in time and storing it as some contained form of energy that the technology, system, or device can release at a later time. Such term shall include standalone technologies, systems, and devices, as well as those co-located with or incorporated into a renewable energy source.
VII. "Fuel switching" means replacing an end-use technology such as a heating system with one that uses a different direct or indirect energy source to reduce energy costs, improve energy factor, reduce energy consumption, or lower greenhouse gas emissions.
VIII. "Positive cash flow financing" means an agreement among an agency, a capital leasing firm, and a provider of design-build energy management services under which the leasing cost of the project, including all interest payments, is equal to or less than the energy cost the project avoids.
IX. "Power purchase agreement (PPA)" means an agreement for the design, permitting, financing, installation, operation, and maintenance of a cogeneration or renewable energy system, including electric and thermal, on a host customer's property. The host customer agrees to purchase the system's energy output at an agreed upon price for a set time period.
X. "Renewable energy," for the purposes of this section, means wind energy; energy generated from eligible biomass fuel; geothermal energy, if the geothermal energy output is in the form of useful thermal energy; energy generated from hydrogen derived from biomass fuels or methane gas; ocean thermal, wave, current, or tidal energy; energy generated from methane gas; solar thermal or electric energy; or hydroelectric energy.
XI. "Shared-savings contract" means an agreement under which a private sector person or company undertakes to design, implement, install, operate, and maintain improvements to the agency's or municipality's procedures, equipment, or facilities, and the agency or municipality agrees to pay a contractually specified amount of measured or estimated energy cost savings.
XII. "Strategic electrification" means the replacement of combustion technologies, which utilize primary fuels including but not limited to biomass, oil, or natural gas, to electric powered measures in order to reduce energy costs, improve energy factor, reduce energy consumption, or lower greenhouse gas emissions.