(A) An electric distribution utility or electric services company may use, for the purpose of complying with the requirements under divisions (B)(1) and (2) of section 4928.64 of the Revised Code, renewable energy credits any time in the five calendar years following the date of their purchase or acquisition from any entity, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) A mercantile customer;

(2) An owner or operator of a hydroelectric generating facility that is located at a dam on a river, or on any water discharged to a river, that is within or bordering this state or within or bordering an adjoining state, or that produces power that can be shown to be deliverable into this state;

(3) A seller of compressed natural gas that has been produced from biologically derived methane gas, provided that the seller may only provide renewable energy credits for metered amounts of gas.

(B)

(1) The public utilities commission shall adopt rules specifying that one unit of credit shall equal one megawatt hour of electricity derived from renewable energy resources, except that, for a generating facility of seventy-five megawatts or greater that is situated within this state and has committed by December 31, 2009, to modify or retrofit its generating unit or units to enable the facility to generate principally from biomass energy by June 30, 2013, each megawatt hour of electricity generated principally from that biomass energy shall equal, in units of credit, the product obtained by multiplying the actual percentage of biomass feedstock heat input used to generate such megawatt hour by the quotient obtained by dividing the then existing unit dollar amount used to determine a renewable energy compliance payment as provided under division (C)(2)(b) of section 4928.64 of the Revised Code by the then existing market value of one renewable energy credit, but such megawatt hour shall not equal less than one unit of credit. Renewable energy resources do not have to be converted to electricity in order to be eligible to receive renewable energy credits. The rules shall specify that, for purposes of converting the quantity of energy derived from biologically derived methane gas to an electricity equivalent, one megawatt hour equals 3,412,142 British thermal units.

(2) The rules also shall provide for this state a system of registering renewable energy credits by specifying which of any generally available registries shall be used for that purpose and not by creating a registry. That selected system of registering renewable energy credits shall allow a hydroelectric generating facility to be eligible for obtaining renewable energy credits and shall allow customer-sited projects or actions the broadest opportunities to be eligible for obtaining renewable energy credits.

(C) Beginning January 1, 2020, a qualifying renewable resource as defined in section 3706.40 of the Revised Code is not eligible to obtain a renewable energy credit under this section for any megawatt hour for which the resource has been issued a renewable energy credit under section 3706.45 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 133rd General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 6, §1, eff. 10/22/2019.

Renumbered from § 4928.65 by 130th General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 310, §1, eff. 9/12/2014.

Effective Date: 2008 SB221 07-31-2008; 2009 HB2 07-01-2009