(2) At a minimum, an implementation plan must contain:

(a) Annual targets for acquisition and use of qualifying electricity; and

(b) The estimated cost of meeting the annual targets, including the cost of transmission, the cost of firming, shaping and integrating qualifying electricity, the cost of alternative compliance payments and the cost of acquiring renewable energy certificates.

(3) The commission shall acknowledge an implementation plan no later than six months after the implementation plan is filed with the commission. The commission may acknowledge the implementation plan subject to conditions specified by the commission.

(4) The commission shall adopt rules:

(a) Establishing requirements for the content of implementation plans;

(b) Establishing the procedure for acknowledgment of implementation plans under this section, including provisions for public comment;

(c) Providing for the integration of an implementation plan with the integrated resource planning guidelines established by the commission for the purpose of planning for the least-cost, least-risk acquisition of resources; and

(d) Providing for the evaluation of competitive bidding processes that allow for diverse ownership of renewable energy sources that generate qualifying electricity.

(5) An implementation plan filed under this section may include procedures that will be used by the electric company to determine whether the costs of constructing a facility that generates electricity from a renewable energy source, or the costs of acquiring bundled or unbundled renewable energy certificates, are consistent with the renewable portfolio standards of the commission relating to least-cost, least-risk planning for acquisition of resources. [2007 c.301 §11; 2016 c.28 §6]