Washington Administrative Code › Title 463 - Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council › Chapter 463-85 - Greenhouse gases emissions performance standard and sequestration plans and programs for baseload electric generating facilities › Section 463-85-110 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
The following definitions apply when these terms are used in
				the provisions of this chapter.
"Average available greenhouse gases emissions output" means the
				level of greenhouse gases emissions as surveyed and determined by the energy
				policy division of the department of community, trade, and economic development
				under RCW  80.80.050.
"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 a cogeneration
				facility, the sixty percent annual capacity factor applies to only the
				electrical production intended to be supplied for sale. For purposes 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.
"Baseload electric cogeneration facility" means a cogeneration
				facility that provides baseload electric generation.
"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.
"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 is 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.
"Department" or "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 concludes fuel cells fueled by hydrogen
				produced:
(i) In a reformer utilizing nonrenewable fuels; or
(ii) By a gasifier producing hydrogen from nonrenewable
				fuels.
"EFSEC" or "council" 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.
"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.
"Greenhouse gases" 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.
"MWh" = megawatt-hour electricity.
"MWheq" = 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 the department of 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.
"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 the energy facility site
				evaluation council. 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 gases emissions" is the mass of carbon
				dioxide emitted plus the mass of nitrous oxide emitted plus the mass of methane
				emitted. Regulated greenhouse gases 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; or
(d) Gas from sewage treatment facilities.
"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 in 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 gases 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 topping-cycle 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 contained in condensate return and/or makeup
				water);
(b) That is used in a heating application (e.g., space heating,
				domestic hot water heating); or
(c) That is used in a space cooling application (i.e., thermal
				energy used by an absorption chiller).
"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.