"Biofuels" means liquid or gaseous fuels produced from organic sources such as biomass crops, agricultural residues and oil crops, such as palm oil, canola oil, soybean oil, waste cooking oil, grease, and food wastes, animal residues and wastes, and sewage and landfill wastes.

"Cost-effective" means the ability to produce or purchase electric energy or firm capacity, or both, from renewable energy resources at or below avoided costs or as the commission otherwise determines to be just and reasonable consistent with the methodology set by the public utilities commission in accordance with section 269-27.2.

"Electric utility company" means a public utility as defined under section 269-1, for the production, conveyance, transmission, delivery, or furnishing of power.

"Renewable electrical energy" means:

1. (1) Electrical energy generated using renewable energy as the source, and beginning January 1, 2015, includes customer-sited, grid-connected renewable energy generation; and

2. (2) Electrical energy savings brought about by:

   1. (A) The use of renewable displacement or off-set technologies, including solar water heating, sea-water air-conditioning district cooling systems, solar air-conditioning, and customer-sited, grid-connected renewable energy systems; provided that, beginning January 1, 2015, electrical energy savings shall not include customer-sited, grid-connected renewable-energy systems; or

   2. (B) The use of energy efficiency technologies, including heat pump water heating, ice storage, ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs, and use of rejected heat from co-generation and combined heat and power systems, excluding fossil-fueled qualifying facilities that sell electricity to electric utility companies and central station power projects.

      "Renewable energy" means energy generated or produced using the following sources:

   3. (1) Wind;
   4. (2) The sun;
   5. (3) Falling water;
   6. (4) Biogas, including landfill and sewage-based digester gas;
   7. (5) Geothermal;
   8. (6) Ocean water, currents, and waves, including ocean thermal energy conversion;
   9. (7) Biomass, including biomass crops, agricultural and animal residues and wastes, and municipal solid waste and other solid waste;
   10. (8) Biofuels; and

   11. (9) Hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources.

       "Renewable portfolio standard" means the percentage of electrical energy generation that is represented by renewable electrical energy, excluding customer-sited, grid connected generation that does not produce renewable energy.

[L 2001, c 272, §2; am L 2004, c 95, §4; am L 2006, c 162, §4; am L 2009, c 50, §3 and c 155, §2; am L 2011, c 10, §1; am L 2022, c 240, §3]