Goals and Objectives of the Agreement Agreement Goals The goals of this Agreement are to: ● Reduce wildfire risk related to the tree mortality crisis; ● Provide a financial model for funding and scaling proactive forestry management and wildfire remediation; ● Produce renewable bioenergy to spur uptake of tariffs in support of Senate Bill 1122 Bio Market Agreement Tariff (BioMat) for renewable bioenergy projects, and to meet California’s other statutory energy goals; ● Create clean energy jobs throughout the state; ● Reduce energy costs by generating cheap net-metered energy; ● Accelerate the deployment of distributed biomass gasification in California; and ● Mitigate climate change through the avoidance of conventional energy generation and the sequestration of fixed carbon from biomass waste. Ratepayer Benefits:2 This Agreement will result in the ratepayer benefits of greater electricity reliability, lower costs, and increased safety by creating a strong market demand for forestry biomass waste and generating cheap energy. This demand will increase safety by creating an economic driver to support forest thinning, thus reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire and the associated damage to investor-owned utility (IOU) infrastructure, such as transmission lines and remote substations. Preventing this damage to or destruction of ratepayer-supported infrastructure lowers costs for ratepayers. Additionally, the ability of IOUs to use a higher- capacity Powertainer provides a much larger offset against the yearly billion-dollar vegetation management costs borne by IOUs (and hence by ratepayers). The PT+’s significant increase in waste processing capacity also significantly speeds up and improves the economics of wildfire risk reduction, magnifying the benefits listed above. The PT+ will directly increase PG&E’s grid reliability by reducing peak loading by up to 250 kilowatt (kW), and has the potential to increase grid reliability significantly when deployed at scale. The technology will provide on-demand, non- weather dependent, renewable energy. The uniquely flexible nature of this energy will offer grid managers new tools to enhance grid stability and reliability. The technology can be used to provide local capacity in hard-to-serve areas, while reducing peak demand. Technological Advancement and Breakthroughs:3 This Agreement will lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs to overcome barriers to the achievement of California’s statutory energy goals by substantially reducing the LCOE of distributed gasification, helping drive uptake of the undersubscribed BioMAT program and increasing the potential for mass commercial deployment of distributed biomass gasification technology, particularly through net energy metering. This breakthrough will help California achieve its goal of developing bioenergy markets (Bioenergy Action Plan 2012) and fulfil its ambitious renewable portfolio standard (SB X1-2, 2011-2012; SB350, 2015). The PT+ will also help overcome barriers to achieving California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction (AB 32, 2006) and air quality improvement goals. It reduces greenhouse gas and criteria pollutants over three primary pathways: 1) The PT+’s increased capacity and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) module expand the displacement of emissions from conventional generation; 2) the biochar offtake enables the sequestration of hundreds of tons carbon that would otherwise have been released into the atmosphere; and 3) its increased processing capacity avoids GHG and criteria emissions by reducing the risk of GHG emissions from wildfire and other forms of disposal, such as open pile burning or decomposition. The carbon sequestration potential of the biochar offtake is particularly groundbreaking because very few technologies exist that can essentially sequester atmospheric carbon, which is what the PT+ enables when paired with the natural forest ecosystem––an innovative and groundbreaking bio-energy technology, with carbon capture and storage. Additionally, as noted in the Governor’s Clean Energy Jobs Plan (2011), clean energy jobs are a critical component of 2 California Public Resources Code, Section 25711.5(a) requires projects funded by the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) to result in ratepayer benefits. The California Public Utilities Commission, which established the EPIC in 2011, defines ratepayer benefits as greater reliability, lower costs, and increased safety (See CPUC “Phase 2” Decision ▇▇-▇▇-▇▇▇ at page 19, May 24, 2012, ▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇▇/PublishedDocs/WORD_PDF/FINAL_DECISION/167664.PDF). 3 California Public Resources Code, Section 25711.5(a) also requires EPIC-funded projects to lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs to overcome barriers that prevent the achievement of the state’s statutory and energy goals. California’s energy goals. When deployed at scale, the PT+ will result in the creation of thousands of jobs across multiple sectors, including manufacturing, feedstock supply chain (harvesting, processing, and transportation), equipment operation, construction, and project development. ● Annual electricity and thermal savings; ● Expansion of forestry waste markets; ● Expansion/development of an agricultural biochar market; ● Peak load reduction; ● Flexible generation; ● Energy cost reductions; ● Reduced wildfire risk; ● Local air quality benefits; ● Water use reductions (through energy savings); and ● Watershed benefits.
Project/Milestones Taxpayer provides refrigerated warehousing and logistic distribution services to clients throughout the United States. In consideration for the Credit, Taxpayer agrees to invest in a new refrigeration and distribution facility in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ Park area of Sacramento, California, and hire full-time employees (collectively, the “Project”). Further, Taxpayer agrees to satisfy the milestones as described in Exhibit A (“Milestones”) and must maintain Milestones for a minimum of three (3) taxable years thereafter. In the event Taxpayer employs more than the number of full-time employees, determined on an annual full-time equivalent basis, than required in Exhibit A, for purposes of satisfying the “Minimum Annual Salary of California Full-time Employees Hired” and the “Cumulative Average Annual Salary of California Full-time Employees Hired,” Taxpayer may use the salaries of any of the full-time employees hired within the required time period. For purposes of calculating the “Minimum Annual Salary of California Full-time Employees Hired” and the “Cumulative Average Annual Salary of California Full-time Employees Hired,” the salary of any full-time employee that is not employed by Taxpayer for the entire taxable year shall be annualized. In addition, the salary of any full-time employee hired to fill a vacated position in which a full-time employee was employed during Taxpayer’s Base Year shall be disregarded.
Staffing Levels To the extent legislative appropriations and PIN authorizations allow, safe staffing levels will be maintained in all institutions where employees have patient, client, inmate or student care responsibilities. In July of each year, the Secretary or Deputy Secretary of each agency will, upon request, meet with the Union, to hear the employees’ views regarding staffing levels. In August of each year, the Secretary or Deputy Secretary of Budget and Management will, upon request, meet with the Union to hear the employees’ views regarding the Governor’s budget request.
EPP service availability Refers to the ability of the TLD EPP servers as a group, to respond to commands from the Registry accredited Registrars, who already have credentials to the servers. The response shall include appropriate data from the Registry System. An EPP command with “EPP command RTT” 5 times higher than the corresponding SLR will be considered as unanswered. If 51% or more of the EPP testing probes see the EPP service as unavailable during a given time, the EPP service will be considered unavailable.
Repayment of Amounts Advanced for Network Upgrades Upon the Commercial Operation Date, the Interconnection Customer shall be entitled to a repayment, equal to the total amount paid to the Participating TO for the cost of Network Upgrades. Such amount shall include any tax gross-up or other tax-related payments associated with Network Upgrades not refunded to the Interconnection Customer, and shall be paid to the Interconnection Customer by the Participating TO on a dollar-for- dollar basis either through (1) direct payments made on a levelized basis over the five- year period commencing on the Commercial Operation Date; or (2) any alternative payment schedule that is mutually agreeable to the Interconnection Customer and Participating TO, provided that such amount is paid within five (5) years from the Commercial Operation Date. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if this Agreement terminates within five (5) years from the Commercial Operation Date, the Participating TO’s obligation to pay refunds to the Interconnection Customer shall cease as of the date of termination. Any repayment shall include interest calculated in accordance with the methodology set forth in FERC’s regulations at 18 C.F.R. §35.19a(a)(2)(iii) from the date of any payment for Network Upgrades through the date on which the Interconnection Customer receives a repayment of such payment. Interest shall continue to accrue on the repayment obligation so long as this Agreement is in effect. The Interconnection Customer may assign such repayment rights to any person. If the Small Generating Facility fails to achieve commercial operation, but it or another Generating Facility is later constructed and makes use of the Network Upgrades, the Participating TO shall at that time reimburse Interconnection Customer for the amounts advanced for the Network Upgrades. Before any such reimbursement can occur, the Interconnection Customer, or the entity that ultimately constructs the Generating Facility, if different, is responsible for identifying the entity to which reimbursement must be made.