[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 98 (Tuesday, May 21, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23043-23044]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-10572]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Availability of Guidance and Application for 
Hydroelectric Incentive Program

AGENCY: Water Power Technologies Office, Office of Energy Efficiency 
and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability of guidance and open application period.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) gives notice of updated 
guidance for the Energy Policy Act of 2005 program. The guidance 
describes the hydroelectric incentive payment requirements and explains 
the type of information that owners or authorized operators of 
qualified hydroelectric facilities must provide DOE when applying for 
hydroelectric incentive payments. This incentive is available for 
electric energy generated and sold for a specified 10-year period as 
authorized under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In Congressional 
appropriations for Federal fiscal year 2019, DOE received funds to 
support this hydroelectric incentive program. At this time, DOE is only 
accepting applications from owners and authorized operators of 
qualified hydroelectric facilities for hydroelectricity generated and 
sold in calendar year 2018.

DATES: DOE is currently accepting applications from May 21, 2019 
through June 20, 2019. Applications must be sent to 
[email protected] by midnight EDT, June 20, 2019, or they will 
not be considered timely filed for calendar year 2018 incentive 
payments.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are to submit applications electronically 
to: [email protected]. DOE's guidance is available at: https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/water-power-funding-opportunities.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions may be addressed to Corey 
Vezina, U.S. Department of Energy, Golden Field Office, 15013 Denver 
West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, (240) 562-1382 or by email at: 
[email protected]. Further instruction can be found in the 
guidance posted at: https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/water-power-funding-opportunities. Electronic communications are recommended for 
correspondence and required for submission of application information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 
2005; Pub. L. 109-58), Congress established a new program to support 
the expansion of hydropower energy development at existing dams and 
impoundments through an incentive payment procedure. Under Section 242 
of EPAct 2005, the Secretary of Energy is directed to provide incentive 
payments to the owner or authorized operator of qualified hydroelectric 
facilities for energy generated and sold by a qualified hydroelectric 
facility for a specified 10-year period (See 42 U.S.C. 15881). The 2019 
Consolidated Appropriations Act authorized funding for the Section 242 
program for conventional hydropower under EPAct 2005. In FY 2019, DOE 
allocated $6.6M for this purpose.
    Recently DOE made minor updates to clarify its Guidance for the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005 Section 242. The April 2019 Guidance is 
available at: https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/water-power-funding-opportunities. Each application will be reviewed based on the Guidance. 
The majority of the Guidance changes were minor and involved edits such 
as consistently referring to the facilities at issue as ``hydroelectric 
generation facility'' or moving existing Guidance to a different 
portion of the Guidance to improve clarity. For example, the ``Added'' 
definition was formerly contained in the ``Qualified hydroelectric 
facility'' definition but is now a standalone definition.
    The description of how DOE calculates incentive payments was moved 
from the ``Qualified-kilowatt-hours (kWh)'' definition to a new 
``Payment Calculation'' and equation in Section V. This section and 
equation reflect how DOE has been calculating incentive payments since 
the Department started receiving appropriations for this program and 
was added to the Guidance this year to increase transparency. The 
Guidance clarifies that the inflation adjustment required at 42 U.S.C. 
15881(e)(2) is made in accordance with data similar to that used by the 
Internal Revenue Service in its annual Publications of Inflation 
Adjustment Factor and Reference Prices for other code sections

[[Page 23044]]

of the Internal Revenue Code. Also under Section V., the Guidance now 
provides three hypothetical examples to explain when hydroelectric 
generation facility production would be eligible for incentive payments 
based on statutory date requirements.
    Section VI. includes a clarification that applications for each 
incentive period must be properly completed and submitted to DOE each 
year and cannot simply refer to an application from a previous year. 
Section VI. removes the application requirement that applicants notify 
DOE at least six months before a facility is expected to be first used. 
In Section VII., the Guidance states that an appeal may be dismissed 
for any reason that an appeal would be subject to dismissal under 
Office of Hearings and Appeals procedural regulations at 10 CFR part 
1003. Finally, in Section VII. OHA grants DOE an opportunity to submit 
a written response to an appeal and allows the appellant the 
opportunity to reply to DOE's response.
    DOE notes that applicants that received incentive payments for 
prior calendar years must submit a full application addressing all 
eligibility requirements for hydroelectricity generated and sold in 
calendar year 2018. DOE will not consider previously submitted 
application materials. Applications that refer to previous application 
materials or statements in lieu of submitting current information will 
not be considered. As authorized under Section 242 of EPAct 2005, and 
as explained in the Guidance, DOE also notes that it will only accept 
applications from qualified hydroelectric facilities that began 
operations at an existing dam or conduit during the inclusive period 
beginning October 1, 2005, and ending on September 30, 2015. Therefore, 
although DOE is accepting applications for full calendar year 2018 
production, the qualified hydroelectric facility must have begun 
operations starting October 1, 2005, through September 30, 2015, for 
DOE to consider the application.
    When submitting information to DOE for Section 242 program, it is 
recommended that applicants carefully read and review the completed 
content of the Guidance for this process. When reviewing applications, 
DOE may corroborate the information provided with information that DOE 
finds through FERC e-filings, contact with power off-taker, and other 
due diligence measure carried out by reviewing officials. DOE may 
require the applicant to conduct and submit an independent audit at its 
own expense, or DOE may conduct an audit to verify the number of 
kilowatt-hours claimed to have been generated and sold by the qualified 
hydroelectric facility and for which an incentive payment has been 
requested or made.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2019.
Steve Chalk,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Power, Energy 
Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. 2019-10572 Filed 5-20-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P