§ 158-776. Potential new generating facilities.

(a)

The utility shall identify and fully describe all new generation options for meeting future demand. To the extent practicable and economically feasible, the options considered should include all technologies and designs which are expected to be available within the 20-year planning period, either on a commercial scale or on a demonstration scale. The utility shall also fully describe all new generation options available to the system to the extent these resources affect supply-side resources available to the utility.

(b)

The utility shall perform an initial screening utilizing the screening test of all future generation options to eliminate those which, upon preliminary evaluation, are not cost-effective in relationship to other available supply-side resources. If the utility eliminates any generation options, each such option shall be identified, and the reason for rejection shall be fully explained and justified.

(c)

A description, as appropriate, of each generation resource (both existing and proposed) to be considered for the least-cost resource plan shall be provided and shall include the following information (estimated where necessary), site-specific where known, and on an annual basis:

(1)

Technology and design, including major pollution-control equipment;

(2)

Description of fuel use, both primary and back-up, and provisions for transporting and storing fuel;

(3)

Lead time, separately identifying the estimated time required for engineering, permitting and licensing, design, construction and precommercial operation date testing;

(4)

In service date, and project schedule;

(5)

Installed capacity and net dependable capability;

(6)

Estimated costs, in accordance with the breakdown specified in the uniform system of accounts, separately identifying the following:

a.

The total base cost in current dollars, and annual flows of expenditures in current dollars. Base cost means total capital costs of construction, net of prospective inflation, finance costs (allowance for funds used during construction), and operation and maintenance. Base costs are the sum of the utility's estimated quarterly planning and construction expenditures;

b.

The annual flows of total incremental and sunk facility costs, including inflation and finance costs, disaggregated by allowance for funds used during construction and direct costs;

c.

Annual depreciation on capital investment;

d.

Annual return and taxes on capital investment;

e.

The operation and maintenance (O&M) costs over the life of the facility described as:

1.

Costs which are variable, in current dollars per kilowatt-hour, with expenses for fuel and other items indicated separately;

2.

Costs which are fixed, in current dollars per kilowatt-hour;

f.

Waste disposal expenses;

g.

Decommissioning expenses;

h.

Insurance;

i.

Property taxes;

j.

Dedicated transmission and distribution facilities costs;

k.

Other appropriate expenses;

(7)

The rates of escalation associated with:

a.

Capital costs;

b.

O&M costs which are variable and related to fuel;

c.

O&M costs which are variable and unrelated to fuel;

d.

O&M costs which are fixed;

(8)

The total annual average cost per kilowatt-hour at projected loads in current dollars for each year of the plan for each existing and proposed facility;

(9)

Equivalent availability factors, including both scheduled and forced outage rates;

(10)

Capacity factors;

(11)

Duty cycle, i.e., baseload, intermediate, or peaking;

(12)

Heat rates (efficiency), for various levels of operation;

(13)

Unit lifetime, both book and engineering;

(14)

Complete list of applicable state, local and federal licenses necessary for the facilities;

(15)

Potential socio-economic impacts such as employment, personal income levels, and the competitiveness and health of the marketplace economy;

(16)

Emission rates and other environmental impact information;

(17)

Any other information necessary to perform the resource assessment described in sections 158-777 through 158-782.

(d)

Assumptions should be fully justified and where appropriate, explicitly compared to the historic values of similar existing resources of the utility, as described in section 158-773, or of other companies.

(Code 1956, § 52-354(d))