I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5082 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to establish 

uniform national standards for the interconnection of certain small power 

production facilities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 20, 2010 

Mr. LUJA ́N (for himself, Ms. GIFFORDS, Mr. POLIS of Colorado, and Mr. 

HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

to establish uniform national standards for the interconnection of certain small power production facilities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. UNIFORM NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR INTER4 CONNECTION OF CERTAIN SMALL POWER 

5 PRODUCTION FACILITIES. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Section 2 of the Public Utility Regu7 latory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2601) is amend8 ed— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

2 end; 

3 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at 

4 the end and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(7) uniform national standards for the inter7 connection of certain small power production facili8 ties.’’. 

9 (b) STANDARDS FOR INTERCONNECTION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title I of the 

11 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 

12 U.S.C. 2621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

13 end the following: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 118. INTERCONNECTION OF CERTAIN SMALL POWER 

15 PRODUCTION FACILITIES. 

16 ‘‘(a) STANDARD FOR FACILITIES THAT HAVE A

17 POWER PRODUCTION CAPACITY OF NOT MORE THAN 2 

18 MEGAWATTS.—The Commission shall establish a standard 

19 by which each electric utility shall make available, on re20 quest, interconnection service to any electric consumer 

21 that the electric utility serves with respect to any facility 

22 on the premises of the electric consumer that has a power 

23 production capacity of not more than 2 megawatts. 

24 ‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.— 

25 ‘‘(1) BY THE COMMISSION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 paragraph (2), the Commission may enforce the 

3 standard established under subsection (a) 

4 against any electric utility. 

5 ‘‘(B) ADMINISTRATION.—The require6 ments of the standard established under sub7 section (a) shall be treated as a rule enforceable 

8 under the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 791a 

9 et seq.). 

10 ‘‘(2) BY A STATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY.— 

11 The Commission may enter into an agreement with 

12 a State regulatory authority to discontinue the en13 forcement of this section in the State by the Com14 mission if the Commission finds that the State or 

15 the State regulatory authority has adopted and is 

16 enforcing a standard for interconnection services 

17 that is consistent with or exceeds the standard es18 tablished under subsection (a). 

19 ‘‘(3) RESUMPTION OF COMMISSION ENFORCE20 MENT.—The Commission may rescind an agreement 

21 under paragraph (2) and resume enforcement of the 

22 standard established under subsection (a) if, as de23 termined by the Commission, the State or the State 

24 regulatory authority has failed to enforce a con25 sistent State standard. 


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1 ‘‘(c) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the standard 

2 under subsection (a), the Commission shall consider the 

3 standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and 

4 Electronics Engineers: IEEE Standard 1547 for Inter5 connecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power 

6 Systems, as they may be amended from time to time. The 

7 standard established under subsection (a) shall promote 

8 current best practices of interconnection for distributed 

9 generation, including practices stipulated in model codes 

10 from State best practices. The standard established under 

11 subsection (a) shall be just and reasonable, and not unduly 

12 discriminatory or preferential. 

13 ‘‘(d) MODEL STANDARD FOR FACILITIES OF UP TO

14 20 MEGAWATTS.—The Commission shall establish a 

15 model standard for the interconnection of small power pro16 duction facilities that have a power production capacity 

17 of more than 2 megawatts, but not more than 20 

18 megawatts, for the consideration of State regulatory au19 thorities under section 111(d)(15).’’. 

20 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 

21 contents in section 1(b) of the Public Utility Regu22 latory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. prec. 2601) 

23 is amended by adding at the end of the items relat24 ing to subtitle B of title I the following: 

‘‘Sec. 118. Interconnection of certain small power production facilities.’’. 

Æ 


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