(1) On or before August 15, 2010, and in coordination with current or expected requirements of the federal act and the state act, all rate-regulated utilities that own or operate coal-fired electric generating units located in Colorado shall submit to the commission an emission reduction plan for emissions from those units.
(2) (a) The plan filed under this section shall cover a minimum of nine hundred megawatts or fifty percent of the utility's coal-fired electric generating units in Colorado, whichever is smaller. Except as set forth in section 40-3.2-206, the coal-fired capacity covered under the plan filed under this section shall not include any coal-fired capacity that the utility has already announced that it plans to retire prior to January 1, 2015. At the utility's discretion, the plan may include some or all of the following elements:
New emission control equipment for oxides of nitrogen and other pollutants;
Retirement of coal-fired units, if the retired coal-fired units are replaced by naturalgas-fired electric generation or other low-emitting resources as defined in section 40-3.2-206, including energy efficiency;
Conversion of coal-fired generation to run on natural gas;
Long-term fuel supply agreements;
New natural gas pipelines and other supporting gas infrastructure;
Increased utilization of existing gas-fired generating capacity;
New transmission lines and other supporting transmission infrastructure;
Emission control equipment that is required to be installed at affected units priorto or in conjunction with any retirement, conversion, or emission control equipment retrofit set forth under the plan in order to limit any pollutant other than oxides of nitrogen; and
Any other capital, fuel, and operations and maintenance expenditures appropriate tosupport the implementation of the plan.
(b) (I) Prior to filing the plan, the utility shall consult with the department and shall work with the department in good faith to design a plan to meet the current and reasonably foreseeable requirements of the federal act and state law in a cost-effective and flexible manner.
(II) The commission shall provide the department an opportunity to:
Comment on the air quality, all other air pollutants, and other emission reductions ofthe plan; and
Evaluate and determine whether the plan is consistent with the current and reasonably foreseeable requirements of the federal act.
In commenting upon the utility's plan, the department shall determine whether anynew or repowered electric generating unit proposed under the plan, other than a peaking facility utilized less than twenty percent on an annual basis or a facility that captures and sequesters more than seventy percent of emissions not subject to a national ambient air quality standard or a hazardous air pollutant standard, will achieve emission rates equivalent to or less than a combined-cycle natural gas generating unit.
The commission shall not approve a plan except after an evidentiary hearing andunless the department has determined that the plan is consistent with the current and reasonably foreseeable requirements of the federal act.
The plan shall include a schedule that would result in full implementation of the planon or before December 31, 2017. The schedule may include interim milestones. The utility shall design the schedule to protect system reliability, control overall cost, and assure consistency with the requirements of the federal act.
The plan shall set forth the costs associated with activities identified in the plan,including the planning, development, construction, and operation of elements identified pursuant to subparagraphs (I) to (IX) of paragraph (a) of this subsection (2), as well as the costs of any shutdown, decommissioning, or repowering of existing coal-fired electric generating units that are set forth in the plan.
Source: L. 2010: Entire part added, (HB 10-1365), ch. 140, p. 468, § 1, effective April 19.