District of Columbia Code
Chapter 14A - Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards
§ 34–1431. Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, the term:
(1) “Black liquor” means the spent cooking liquor from the Kraft process of paper making.
(1A) “Brush” means shrubs and stands of short, scrubby trees that do not reach merchantable size.
(2) “Commission” means the Public Service Commission.
(3) “Customer generation” means generation that is not principally dedicated to selling power into the wholesale market.
(4) “Dunnage” means loose materials or padding used to support or protect cargo within shipping containers.
(5) "DOEE" means the Department of Energy and Environment.
(6) “Electricity supplier” means a person, including an aggregator, broker, or marketer, who generates electricity; sells electricity; or purchases, brokers, arranges or, markets electricity for sale to customers. The term excludes the following:
(A) Building owners, lessees, or managers who manage the internal distribution system serving such building and who supply electricity solely to occupants of the building for use by the occupants;
(B)(i) Any person who purchases electricity for its own use or for the use of its subsidiaries or affiliates; or
(ii) Any apartment building or office building manager who aggregates electric service requirements for his or her building or buildings, and who does not:
(I) Take title to electricity;
(II) Market electric services to the individually-metered tenants of his or her building; or
(III) Engage in the resale of electric services to others;
(C) Property owners who supply small amounts of power, at cost, as an accommodation to lessors or licensees of the property; and
(D) A consolidator.
(6A) “Fuel input” means the higher heating value of the input fuel type, measured in BTU/LB, based on the standardized heating value of fuel type, multiplied by the annual fuel used in as delivered tons, multiplied by 2000.
(7) “Fund” means the District of Columbia Renewable Energy Development Fund.
(8) “PJM Interconnection” means the regional transmission organization that is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that functionally controls the transmission system for the region that includes the District of Columbia.
(9) “Qualifying biomass” means a solid, nonhazardous, cellulosic waste material that is segregated from other waste materials, and is derived from any of the following forest-related resources, with the exception of old growth timber, construction and demolition-derived wood, whole trees not part of a closed-loop biomass system that are cleared solely for the purpose of energy production, unsegregated solid waste, or post-consumer wastepaper:
(A) Mill residue;
(B) Repealed.
(C) Slash;
(D) Brush;
(E) Yard waste;
(F) A waste pallet, crate, or dunnage;
(G) Agricultural sources, including tree crops, vineyard materials, grain, legumes, sugar, and other crop by-products or residues; or
(H) Cofired biomass, subject to the condition under § 34-1433(f).
(10) "Renewable energy credit" or "credit" means a credit representing one megawatt-hour of energy produced by:
(A) A tier one or tier two renewable source located within the PJM Interconnection region; or
(B) Until January 1, 2029, a tier one or tier two renewable source located within a state that is adjacent to the PJM Interconnection region that was certified by the Commission as of [March 22, 2019].
(11) “Renewable energy portfolio standard” or “standard” means the percentage of electricity sales at retail in the District of Columbia that is to be derived from tier one renewable sources and tier two renewable sources in accordance with § 34-1432(c).
(12) “Renewable on-site generator” means a person that generates electricity on site from a tier one renewable source or tier two renewable source for the person’s own use.
(13) “Slash” means:
(A) Tree tops, branches, bark, or other residue left on the ground after logging or other forestry operations; or
(B) Tree debris left after a natural catastrophe.
(14) “Solar energy” means radiant energy, direct, diffuse, or reflected, received from the sun at wavelengths suitable for conversion into thermal, chemical, or electrical energy, that is collected, generated, or stored for use at a later time.
(15) “Tier one renewable source” means one or more of the following types of energy sources:
(A) Solar energy;
(B) Wind;
(C) Qualifying biomass used at a generation unit that achieves a total system efficiency of at least 65% on an annual basis, can demonstrate that they achieved a total system efficiency of at least 65% on an annual basis through actual operational data after one year, and that started commercial operation after January 1, 2007.
(D) Methane from the anaerobic decomposition of organic materials in a landfill or wastewater treatment plant;
(E) Geothermal;
(F) Ocean, including energy from waves, tides, currents, and thermal differences;
(G) Fuel cells producing electricity from a tier one renewable source under subparagraph (C) or (D) of this paragraph; and
(H) Raw or treated wastewater used as a heat source or sink for a heating or cooling system.
(16) “Tier two renewable source” means one or more of the following types of energy sources:
(A) Hydroelectric power other than pumped storage generation;
(B) Waste-to-energy; or
(C) Qualifying biomass used at a generation unit that:
(i) Started commercial operation on or before December 31, 2006; or
(ii) Achieves a total system efficiency of less than 65%; or
(iii) Uses black liquor.
(17) “Total system efficiency” means the sum of the net useful thermal energy output measured in BTUs divided by the total fuel input. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term “useful thermal energy output” means energy in the form of direct heat, steam, hot water, or other thermal form that is used in production and beneficial measures for heating, cooling, humidity control, process use, or other valid thermal end use energy requirements and for which fuel or electricity would otherwise be consumed. The term “useful thermal energy output” does not include thermal energy used for the purpose of drying or refining biomass fuel.
(Apr. 12, 2005, D.C. Law 15-340, § 3, 52 DCR 2285; Oct. 22, 2008, D.C. Law 17-250, § 301(a), 55 DCR 9225; Sept. 24, 2010, D.C. Law 18-223, § 2223(a), 57 DCR 6242; Apr. 30, 2015, D.C. Law 20-245, § 2(a), 62 DCR 1492; Oct. 8, 2016, D.C. Law 21-154, § 2(a), 63 DCR 10138; Oct. 8, 2016, D.C. Law 21-160, § 6043(a), 63 DCR 10775; Mar. 22, 2019, D.C. Law 22-257, § 101(a), 66 DCR 1344.)
This section is referenced in § 34-1433, § 34-1501, § 34-1518, and § 47-1508.
D.C. Law 17-250 rewrote par. (14), which had read as follows: “(14) ‘Solar energy’ means radiant energy, direct, diffuse, or reflected, received from the sun at wavelengths suitable for conversion into thermal, chemical, or electrical energy.”
D.C. Law 18-223 rewrote par. (10).
The 2015 amendment by D.C. Law 20-245 added (1); redesignated former (1) as (1A); added (6A); added “construction and demolition-derived wood, whole trees not part of a closed-loop biomass system that are cleared solely for the purpose of energy production” in the introductory language of (9); repealed (9)(B); rewrote (15)(C); added (16)(C) and made related changes; and added (17).
For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 301(a) of Clean and Affordable Energy Emergency Act of 2008 (D.C. Act 17-508, September 25, 2008, 55 DCR 10856).
For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(a) of Solar Thermal Incentive Emergency Amendment Act of 2010 (D.C. Act 18-426, May 21, 2010, 57 DCR 4775).
For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2223(a) of Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2010 (D.C. Act 18-463, July 2, 2010, 57 DCR 6542).
Section 2(a) of D.C. Law 18-217, in the lead-in language of par. (10), deleted “consumed”.
Section 4(b) of D.C. Law 18-217 provided that the act shall expire after 225 days of its having taken effect.