476C.3 - DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY. - Iowa Statutes

476C.3 DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY. 1. A producer or purchaser of renewable energy may apply to the board for a written determination regarding whether a facility is an eligible renewable energy facility by submitting to the board a written application containing all of the following: a. Information regarding the ownership of the facility including the percentage of equity interest held by each owner. b. The nameplate generating capacity of the facility or energy production capacity equivalent. c. Information regarding the facility's initial placement in service. d. Information regarding the type of facility and what type of renewable energy the facility will produce. e. A copy of the power purchase agreement or other agreement to purchase electricity, hydrogen fuel, methane or other biogas, or heat for a commercial purpose which shall designate either the producer or purchaser of renewable energy as eligible to apply for the renewable energy tax credit. f. Any other information the board may require. 2. The board shall review the application and supporting information and shall make a preliminary determination regarding whether the facility is an eligible renewable energy facility. The board shall notify the applicant of the approval or denial of the application within thirty days of receipt of the application and information required. If the board fails to notify the applicant of the approval or denial within thirty days, the application shall be deemed denied unless the application is placed on a waiting list as described in subsection 5. An applicant who receives a determination denying an application may file an appeal with the board within thirty days from the date of the denial pursuant to the provisions of chapter 17A. In the absence of a timely appeal, the preliminary determination shall be final. If the application is incomplete, the board may grant an extension of time for the provision of additional information. 3. A facility that is not operational within thirty months after issuance of an approval for the facility by the board shall cease to be an eligible renewable energy facility. However, a wind energy conversion facility that is approved as eligible under this section but is not operational within eighteen months due to the unavailability of necessary equipment shall be granted an additional twenty-four months to become operational. A facility that is granted and thereafter loses approval may reapply to the board for a new determination. 4. The maximum amount of nameplate generating capacity of all wind energy conversion facilities the board may find eligible under this chapter shall not exceed three hundred thirty megawatts of nameplate generating capacity. The maximum amount of energy production capacity equivalent of all other facilities the board may find eligible under this chapter shall not exceed a combined output of twenty megawatts of nameplate generating capacity and one hundred sixty-seven billion British thermal units of heat for a commercial purpose. Of the maximum amount of energy production capacity equivalent of all other facilities found eligible under this chapter, fifty-five billion British thermal units of heat for a commercial purpose shall be reserved for an eligible facility that is a refuse conversion facility for processed, engineered fuel from a multicounty solid waste management planning area. The maximum amount of energy production capacity the board may find eligible for a single refuse conversion facility is fifty-five billion British thermal units of heat for a commercial purpose. 5. The board shall maintain a waiting list of facilities that may have been found eligible under this section but for the maximum capacity restrictions of subsection 4. The priority of the waiting list shall be maintained in the order the applications were received by the board. The board shall remove from the waiting list any facility that has subsequently been found ineligible under this chapter. If additional capacity becomes available within the capacity restrictions of subsection 4, the board shall grant approval to facilities according to the priority of the waiting list before granting approval to new applications. An owner of a facility on the waiting list shall provide the board each year by August 31 with a sworn statement of verification stating that the information contained in the application for eligibility remains true and correct or stating that the information has changed and providing the new information. 6. An owner meeting the requirements of section 476C.1, subsection 6, paragraph "b", shall not be an owner of more than two eligible renewable energy facilities. A person that has an equity interest equal to or greater than fifty-one percent in an eligible renewable energy facility shall not have an equity interest greater than ten percent in any other eligible renewable energy facility.          Section History: Recent Form 2005 Acts, ch 160, §9, 14; 2006 Acts, ch 1135, §9, 12, 13; 2006 Acts, ch 1171, §8, 9; 2009 Acts, ch 80, §5, 6