[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 250 (Monday, December 31, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77067-77069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-31264]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. IC13-8-000]
Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC Form No. 556);
Comment Request; Extension
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995, 44 USC 3506(c)(2)(A), the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the
currently approved information collection, OMB No. 1902-0075, FERC Form
No. 556, ``Certification of Qualifying Facility (QF) Status for a Small
Power Production or Cogeneration Facility'' (Form No. 556).
DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due March 1, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC13-8-
000) by either of the following methods:
eFiling at Commission's Web Site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20426.
Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in
accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support
by email at [email protected], or by phone at: (866) 208-3676
(toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.
Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of
activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and
issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at
[email protected], telephone at (202) 502-8663, and fax at (202)
273-0873.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FERC Form No. 556, Certification of Qualifying Facility (QF)
Status for a Small Power Production or Cogeneration Facility.
[[Page 77068]]
OMB Control No.: 1902-0075.
Type of Request: Three-year extension of the Form No. 556
information collection requirements with no changes to the current
reporting requirements.
Abstract: The Commission requires the Form No. 556 to implement the
statutory provisions in Sections 201 and 210 of the Public Utility
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA).\1\ FERC is authorized to
encourage cogeneration and small power production and to prescribe such
rules as necessary in order to carry out the statutory directives.
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\1\ PublicLaw 95-617, November 9, 1978, 92 Stat. 3117. Codified
at 16 U.S.C. 46,2601-45.
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A primary statutory objective is the conservation of energy through
efficient use of energy resources and facilities by electric utilities.
One means of achieving this goal is to encourage production of electric
power by cogeneration facilities which make use of reject heat
associated with commercial or industrial processes, and by small power
production facilities which use other wastes and renewable resources.
PURPA, encourages the development of small power production facilities
and cogeneration facilities which meet certain technical and corporate
criteria through establishment of various regulatory benefits.
Facilities that meet these criteria are called Qualifying Facilities or
QFs.
FERC's regulations \2\ specify:
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\2\ 18 CFR part 292.
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The certification procedures which must be followed by
owners or operators of small power production and cogeneration
facilities;
The criteria which must be met;
The information which must be submitted to FERC in order
to obtain qualifying status;
The PURPA benefits which are available to QFs to encourage
small power production and cogeneration; and
The requirements pertaining to PURPA implementation plans
regarding the transaction obligations that electric utilities have with
respect to QFs.
Among PURPA provisions in Part 292 are requirements for electric
utilities to:
Purchase energy and capacity from QFs favorably priced on
the basis of the avoided cost of the power that is displaced by the QF
power (i.e. the incremental cost to the purchasing utility if it had
generated the displaced power or purchased it from another source);
Sell backup, maintenance and other power services to QFs
at rates based on the cost of rendering the services;
Provide certain interconnection and transmission services
priced on a nondiscriminatory basis;
Operate in ``parallel'' with other interconnected QFs so
that they may be electrically synchronized with electric utility grids;
and
Make available to the public avoided cost information and
system capacity needs.
18 CFR Part 292 exempts QFs from certain corporate, accounting,
reporting and rate regulation requirements, certain state laws and in
certain instances, regulation under the Federal Power Act \3\ and the
Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005.\4\
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\3\ 16 U.S.C. 791, et seq.
\4\ 42 U.S.C. 16, 451-63.
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Type of Respondents: Respondents to the Form No. 556 are
cogeneration facilities and small power producers with a generating
capacity greater than 1Megawatt (MW) who are self-certifying their
status as a cogenerator facility or small power producer facility or
who are submitting an application for FERC certification of their
status as a cogenerator facility.
Estimate of Annual Burden \5\: The Commission estimates the total
Public Reporting Burden for this information collection as:
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\5\ The Commission defines burden as the total time, effort, or
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain,
retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal
agency. For further explanation of what is included in the
information collection burden, reference 5 Code of Federal
Regulations 1320.3.
Form No. 556 (IC13-8-000): Certification of Qualifying Facility (QF) Status for a Small Power Production or
Cogeneration Facility
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Average burden Estimated
Facility type Filing type No. of Total No. of hours per total annual
Respondents responses response burden hours
................ (A) (B) (C) (A)X(B)X(C)
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cogeneration facility > 1MW... self- 53 2 8 848
certification.
cogeneration facility > 1 MW.. application for 2 2 50 200
FERC
certification.
small power production self- 690 2 3 4140
facility > 1 MW. certification.
small power production application for 0 0 6 0
facility > 1 MW. FERC
certification.
cogeneration and small power self- 192 2 3 1152
production facility <= 1MW certification.
(not required to file).
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Totals.................... ................ 937 .............. .............. 6,340
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The total estimated annual cost burden to respondents is
$374,757.40 [6,340 * $59.11].\6\
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\6\ The cost figures are derived by multiplying the total hours
to prepare a response (hours) by an hourly wage estimate of $59.11
(a composite estimate that includes legal, engineering and support
staff wages and benefits obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistic
data at http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm and http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm rates.
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Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the Commission, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden and
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
[[Page 77069]]
Dated: December 20, 2012.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-31264 Filed 12-28-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P