[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