Washington Administrative Code › Title 173 - Ecology, Department of (See also Titles 197, 317, 372, and 508) › Chapter 173-407 - GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION REQUIREMENTS AND EMISSIONS PERFORMANCE STANDARD FOR POWER PLANTS › Part II - GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS PERFORMANCE STANDARD AND SEQUESTRATION PLANS AND PROGRAMS › Section 173-407-110 - Definitions to Part II and Part III

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
The following definitions apply when these terms are used in
				  the provisions of Part II and Part III of this chapter.
"Average available greenhouse gas emissions output" means the
				  level of greenhouse gas emissions as surveyed and determined by the energy
				  policy division of the department of commerce under
				  RCW
				     80.80.050.
"Baseload electric cogeneration facility" means a
				  cogeneration facility that provides baseload electric generation. For a
				  cogeneration facility, the sixty percent annual capacity factor applies to only
				  the electrical production intended to be supplied for sale.
"Baseload electric generation" means electric generation from
				  a power plant that is designed and intended to provide electricity at an
				  annualized plant capacity factor of at least sixty percent. For purposes of
				  Part II and Part III of this rule, "designed" means originally specified by the
				  design engineers for the power plant or generating units (such as simple cycle
				  combustion turbines) installed at a power plant; and "intended" means allowed
				  for by the current permits for the power plant, recognizing the capability of
				  the installed equipment or intent of the owner or operator of the power plant
				  at the time of original permitting.
"Baseload electric generation facility" means a power plant
				  that provides baseload electric generation.
"Benchmark" means a planned quantity of the greenhouse gases
				  to be sequestered each calendar year at a sequestration facility as identified
				  in the sequestration plan or sequestration program.
"Bottoming-cycle cogeneration facility" means a cogeneration
				  facility in which the energy input to the system is first applied to a useful
				  thermal energy application or process, and at least some of the reject heat
				  emerging from the application or process is then used for electrical power
				  production.
"Change in ownership" as related to cogeneration plants means
				  a new ownership interest in the electric generation portion of the cogeneration
				  facility or unit.
"Coal transition power" means the output of a coal-fired
				  electric generation facility that is subject to an obligation to meet the
				  standards in
				  RCW
				     80.80.040(3)(c).
"Cogeneration facility" means a power plant in which the heat
				  or steam is also used for industrial or commercial heating or cooling purposes
				  and that meets Federal Energy Regulatory Commission standards for qualifying
				  facilities under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 824a-3), as amended. In general, a cogeneration facility is comprised of
				  equipment and processes which through the sequential use of energy are used to
				  produce electric energy and useful thermal energy (such as heat or steam) that
				  is used for industrial, commercial, heating, or cooling purposes.
"Combined-cycle natural gas thermal electric generation
				  facility" means a power plant that employs a combination of one or more gas
				  turbines and steam turbines in which electricity is produced in the steam
				  turbine from otherwise lost waste heat exiting from one or more of the gas
				  turbines.
"Commence commercial operation" means, in regard to a unit
				  serving an electric generator, to have begun to produce steam or other heated
				  medium, or a combustible gas used to generate electricity for sale or use,
				  including test generation.
"Consumer-owned utility" means a municipal utility formed
				  under Title 35 RCW, a public utility district formed under Title 54 RCW, an
				  irrigation district formed under chapter 87.03 RCW, a cooperative formed under
				  chapter 23.86 RCW, a mutual corporation or association formed under chapter
				  24.06 RCW, or port district within which an industrial district has been
				  established as authorized by Title 53 RCW, that is engaged in the business of
				  distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the
				  state.
"Ecology" means the department of ecology.
"Electric generating unit" (EGU) is the equipment required to
				  convert the thermal energy in a fuel into electricity. In the case of a steam
				  electric generation unit, the EGU consists of all equipment involved in fuel
				  delivery to the plant site, as well as individual boilers, any installed
				  emission control equipment, and any steam turbine/generators dedicated to
				  generating electricity. Where a steam turbine generator is supplied by two or
				  more boiler units, all boilers contributing to that steam turbine/generator
				  comprise a single electric generating unit. All combustion
				  units/boilers/combined cycle turbines that produce steam for use in a single
				  steam turbine/generator unit are part of the same electric generating
				  unit.
Examples:
(a)For an integrated gasification combined cycle combustion
				  turbine plant, the EGU consists of all equipment involved in fuel delivery to
				  the unit, as well as all equipment used in the fuel conversion and combustion
				  processes, any installed emission control equipment, and all equipment used for
				  the generation of electricity.
(b)For a combined cycle natural gas fired combustion turbine,
				  the EGU begins at the point where natural gas is delivered to the plant site
				  and ends with the generation of electricity from the combustion turbine and
				  from steam produced and used on a steam turbine.
(c)An EGU also includes fuel cells fueled by hydrogen
				  produced:
(i) In a reformer utilizing nonrenewable fuels; or
(ii) By a gasifier producing hydrogen from nonrenewable
				  fuels.
"Electricity from unspecified sources" means electricity that
				  is to be delivered in Washington pursuant to a long-term financial commitment
				  entered into by an electric utility and whose sources or origins of generation
				  and expected average annual deliveries cannot be ascertained with reasonable
				  certainty.
"EFSEC" means the energy facility site evaluation
				  council.
"Electric utility" means an electrical company or a
				  consumer-owned utility.
"Electrical company" means a company owned by investors that
				  meets the definition of
				  RCW
				     80.04.010.
"EPA" means Environmental Protection Agency.
"Fossil fuel" means natural gas, petroleum, coal, or any form
				  of solid, liquid, or gaseous fuel derived from such material to produce heat
				  for the generation of electricity.
"Fuel feed stock" means any renewable, biological material
				  that can be used directly as a fuel, or converted to another form of fuel or
				  energy product.
"GHG EPS" means greenhouse gas emissions performance
				  standard.
"Governing board" means the board of directors or legislative
				  authority of a consumer-owned utility.
"Greenhouse gas" or "GHG" includes carbon dioxide, methane,
				  nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur
				  hexafluoride.
"Long-term financial commitment" means:
(a)Either a new ownership interest in baseload electric
				  generation or an upgrade to a baseload electric generation facility; or
(b)A new or renewed contract for baseload electric generation
				  with a term of five or more years for the provision of retail power or
				  wholesale power to end-use customers in this state.
"Modification" means the definition in WAC
				  173-400-030.
"MWh" means megawatt-hour electricity.
"MWheq" means megawatt-hour equivalent
				  electrical energy of useful thermal energy output. 1
				  MWheq = 3.413 million Btu of thermal energy.
"New ownership interest" means a change in the ownership
				  structure of a baseload power plant or a cogeneration facility or the
				  electrical generation portion of a cogeneration facility affecting at
				  least:
(a)Five percent of the market value of the power plant or
				  cogeneration facility; or
(b) Five percent of the electrical output of the power plant
				  or cogeneration facility.
The above thresholds apply to each unit within a multi-unit
				  generation facility.
"Permanent sequestration" means the retention of greenhouse
				  gases in a containment system using a method that is in accordance with
				  standards approved by ecology and that creates a high degree of confidence that
				  substantially ninety-nine percent of the greenhouse gases will remain contained
				  for at least one thousand years.
"Permitting authority" means ecology or the local air
				  pollution control authority with jurisdiction over the source.
"Plant capacity factor" means the ratio of the electricity
				  produced during a given time period, measured in kilowatt-hours, to the
				  electricity the unit could have produced if it had been operated at its rated
				  capacity during that period, expressed in kilowatt-hours.
"Power plant" means a facility for the generation of
				  electricity that is permitted as a single plant by a jurisdiction inside or
				  outside the state. A power plant may be comprised of one or more individual
				  electrical generating units, each unit of which can be operated or owned
				  separately from the other units.
"Regulated greenhouse gas emissions" is the mass of carbon
				  dioxide emitted plus the mass of nitrous oxide emitted plus the mass of methane
				  emitted. Regulated greenhouse gas emissions include carbon dioxide produced by
				  a sulfur dioxide control system such as a wet limestone scrubber system.
"Renewable fuel" means:
(a)Landfill gas;
(b)Biomass energy utilizing animal waste, solid organic fuels
				  from wood, forest, or field residues or dedicated energy crops that do not
				  include wood pieces that have been treated with chemical preservatives such as
				  creosote, pentachlorophenol, or copper-chrome-arsenic;
(c)By-products of pulping or wood manufacturing processes
				  including, but not limited to, bark, wood chips, sawdust, and lignin in spent
				  pulping liquors;
(d)Gas from sewage treatment facilities; or
(e)Biodiesel fuel as defined in
				  RCW
				     82.29A.135 that is not derived from crops
				  raised on land cleared from old growth or first-growth forests where the
				  clearing occurred after December 7, 2006.
"Renewable resources" means electricity generation facilities
				  fueled by renewable fuels plus electricity generation facilities fueled
				  by:
(a)Water;
(b)Wind;
(c)Solar energy;
(d)Geothermal energy; or
(e)Ocean thermal, wave, or tidal power.
"Sequential use of energy" means:
(a)For a topping-cycle cogeneration facility, the use of
				  reject heat from a power production process in sufficient amounts to support a
				  thermal application or process to conform to the requirements of the operating
				  standard; or
(b)For a bottoming-cycle cogeneration facility, the use of
				  reject heat from a thermal application or process, at least some of which is
				  then used for power production.
"Sequestration plan" means a comprehensive plan describing
				  how a plant owner or operator will comply with the emissions performance
				  standard by means of sequestering greenhouse gases, where the sequestration
				  will start after electricity is first produced, but within five years of the
				  start of commercial operation.
"Sequestration program" means a comprehensive plan describing
				  how a baseload electric generation plant's owner or operator will demonstrate
				  compliance with the emissions performance standard at start of commercial
				  operation and continuing unchanged into the future. The program is a
				  description of how the facility meets the emissions performance standard based
				  on the characteristics of the baseload electric generation facility or unit or
				  by sequestering greenhouse gas emissions to meet the emissions performance
				  standard with the sequestration starting on or before the start of commercial
				  operation.
"Supplementary firing" means an energy input to:
(a)A cogeneration facility used only in the thermal process
				  of a topping-cycle cogeneration facility;
(b)The electric generating process of a bottoming-cycle
				  cogeneration facility; or
(c)Any baseload electric generation unit to temporarily
				  increase the thermal energy that can be converted to electrical energy.
"Topping-cycle cogeneration facility" means a cogeneration
				  facility in which the energy input to the facility is first used to produce
				  useful electrical power output, and at least some of the reject heat from the
				  power production process is then used to provide useful thermal energy.
"Total energy input" means the total energy supplied by all
				  fuels used to produce electricity in a baseload electric generation facility or
				  unit.
"Total energy output" of a cogeneration facility or unit is
				  the sum of the useful electrical power output and useful thermal energy
				  output.
"Upgrade" means any modification made for the primary purpose
				  of increasing the electric generation capacity of a baseload electric
				  generation facility or unit. Upgrade does not include:
(a)Routine or necessary maintenance;
(b)Installation of emission control equipment;
(c) Installation, replacement, or modification of equipment
				  that improves the heat rate of the facility; or
(d) Installation, replacement, or modification of equipment
				  for the primary purpose of maintaining reliable generation output capability
				  that does not increase the heat input or fuel usage as specified in existing
				  generation air quality permits as of July 22, 2007, but may result in
				  incidental increases in generation capacity.
"Useful energy output" of a cogeneration facility means the
				  electric or mechanical energy made available for use, exclusive of any such
				  energy used in the power production process.
"Useful thermal energy output" of a cogeneration facility
				  means the thermal energy:
(a)That is made available to and used in an industrial or
				  commercial process (minus any heat in condensate return and/or makeup
				  water);
(b)That is used in a heating application (e.g., space
				  heating, domestic hot water heating);
(c)That is used in a space cooling application (i.e., thermal
				  energy used by an absorption chiller); or
(d)That is used to drive a chemical conversion process (i.e.,
				  thermal energy to convert limestone to lime or to produce cement clinker from
				  limestone and other materials).
"UTC" means the utilities and transportation
				  commission.
"Waste gas" is refinery gas and other fossil fuel derived
				  gases with a heat content of more than 300 Btu/standard cubic foot. Waste gas
				  does not include gaseous renewable energy sources.
Statutory Authority: Chapter 80.80 RCW. 08-14-011 (Order
					 07-11), § 173-407-110, filed 6/19/08, effective
					 7/20/08.