BILL REQ. #:  H-0387.1 

Prefiled 12/27/2006. Read first time 01/08/2007.   Referred to Committee on Technology, Energy & Communications.

     AN ACT Relating to anaerobic digestion power; and adding a new section to chapter 19.29A RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 19.29A RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a state agency that is served by a public or private utility must purchase all available anaerobic digestion power from the local electric utility when the producer of the power sends a written purchase request to the agency. Purchases by a state agency shall not exceed the agency's annual electricity consumption. A state agency shall pay for anaerobic digestion power at no less than the retail price that the local electric utility charges that customer.
     (2) State agencies are not required to purchase all available anaerobic digestion power from their local electric utility if the utility is exempt from offering a qualified alternative energy resource as defined in RCW 19.29A.090.
     (3) To the extent that a local electric utility purchases power from an anaerobic digestion power producer in its service territory, the utility must pay the producer an amount no less than the retail price that the utility charges a state agency in this section, minus administrative costs that do not exceed five percent of that amount.
     (4) For the purposes of this section, "anaerobic digestion power" means the electricity generated from an in-state facility that processes manure or other organic substrates into biogas using microorganisms in a decomposition process within a closed, oxygen-free container.