[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 51 (Friday, March 15, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16487-16489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-05948]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC13-08-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-556); Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

ACTION: Comment request.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting the information 
collection FERC Form No. 556, ``Certification of Qualifying Facility 
(QF) Status for a Small Power Production or Cogeneration Facility'' 
(Form No. 556), to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
of the information collection requirements. Any interested person may 
file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those 
comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission issued a 
Notice in the Federal Register (77 FR 77067, 12/31/2012) requesting 
public comments. FERC received no comments on the FERC-556 and is 
making this notation in its submittal to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by April 15, 
2013.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No.

[[Page 16488]]

1902-0075, should be sent via email to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs: [email protected]. Attention: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also be 
reached via telephone at 202-395-4718.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, identified by the 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 CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at 
[email protected], by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by 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.
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Public Law 95-617, November 9, 1978, 92 Stat. 3117. Codified 
at 16 U.S.C. 46,2601-45.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ 18 CFR part 292.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ 16 U.S.C. 791, et seq.
    \4\ 42 U.S.C. 16, 451-63.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                      Average        Estimated
         Facility type             Filing type       Number of     Total number    burden hours    total annual
                                                    respondents    of responses    per response    burden hours
                                                             (A)             (B)             (C)     (A) x (B) x
                                                                                                             (C)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cogeneration facility > 1MW...  self-                         53               2               8             848
                                 certification.
cogeneration facility > 1MW...  application for                2               2              50             200
                                 FERC
                                 certification.
small power production          self-                        690               2               3           4,140
 facility > 1 MW.                certification.
small power production          application for                0               0               6               0
 facility > 1 MW.                FERC
                                 certification.

[[Page 16489]]

 
cogeneration and small power    self-                        192               2               3           1,152
 production facility <= 1MW      certification.
 (not required to file).
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals....................  ................             937  ..............  ..............           6,340
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The total estimated annual cost burden to respondents is 
$374,757.40 [6,340 * $59.11].\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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.

    Dated: March 7, 2013.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-05948 Filed 3-14-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P