70-1012. Electric generation facilities and transmission lines; construction or acquisition; application; approval; when not required.

(1) Before any electric generation facilities or any transmission lines or related facilities carrying more than seven hundred volts are constructed or acquired by any supplier, an application, filed with the board and containing such information as the board shall prescribe, shall be approved by the board, except that such approval shall not be required (a) for the construction or acquisition of a transmission line extension or related facilities within a supplier's own service area or for the construction or acquisition of a line not exceeding one-half mile outside its own service area when all owners of electric lines located within one-half mile of the extension consent thereto in writing and such consents are filed with the board, (b) for any generation facility when the board finds that (i) such facility is being constructed or acquired to replace a generating plant owned by an individual municipality or registered group of municipalities with a capacity not greater than that of the plant being replaced, (ii) such facility will generate less than twenty-five thousand kilowatts of electric energy at rated capacity, and (iii) the applicant will not use the plant or transmission capacity to supply wholesale power to customers outside the applicant's existing retail service area or chartered territory, (c) for acquisition of transmission lines or related facilities, within the state, carrying one hundred fifteen thousand volts or less, if the current owner of the transmission lines or related facilities notifies the board of the lines or facilities involved in the transaction and the parties to the transaction, or (d) for the construction of a qualified facility as defined in section 70-2002.

(2) A privately developed renewable energy generation facility is exempt from this section if it complies with section 70-1014.02.

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Annotations

The requirement that the hearing be held within thirty days unless a continuance has been requested by the applicant is directory, not mandatory. Omaha P. P. Dist. v. Nebraska P. P. Project, 196 Neb. 477, 243 N.W.2d 770 (1976).

This section is not limited to retail suppliers of electricity. City of Auburn v. Eastern Nebraska Public Power Dist., 179 Neb. 439, 138 N.W.2d 629 (1965).