26 U.S.C. § 48A — Qualifying advanced coal project credit

(a) In general. Your credit for a qualifying advanced coal project equals a percentage of your "qualified investment" for the year — 20 percent for projects described in the first funding category below, 15 percent for the second, or 30 percent for the third. (b) Qualified investment. The qualified investment is the basis (roughly, the cost) of "eligible property" you place in service that year as part of the project — property you built, reconstructed, or acquired new (original use starting with you), and that you're allowed to depreciate. Rules like section 48(a)(4) (minus its termination-date piece) apply if the property is government-subsidized. Rules like the pre-1990 progress-expenditure rules under section 46 apply too, for property paid for in stages. (c) Definitions. A "qualifying advanced coal project" is a project that meets the requirements laid out in subsection (e). "Advanced coal-based generation technology" is technology meeting the requirements in subsection (f). "Eligible property" means, for projects using integrated gasification combined cycle technology, any project property needed for gasifying coal (including coal-handling and gas-separation equipment); for other qualifying projects, it means any property that's part of the project. "Coal" means anthracite, bituminous coal, subbituminous coal, lignite, and peat. "Greenhouse gas capture capability" means the facility can add equipment to capture, separate, remove, and permanently store the greenhouse gases from making electricity. An "electric generation unit" is a facility where at least half the total annual output is electricity, including one used in an industrial application. "Integrated gasification combined cycle" means a unit that converts coal into synthesis gas, which then fuels a combined-cycle plant generating electricity from both a combustion turbine and a steam turbine. (d) Program. Within 180 days of enactment, the Secretary — working with the Secretary of Energy — had to set up a certification program. Applicants had a 3-year window (starting when the program began) to apply for the first two funding pools below, and a separate 3-year window (starting when that first window ended, or on a date the Secretary sets) to apply for the third pool. Applications must contain whatever information the Secretary requires, and that information is protected as confidential under the Freedom of Information Act's trade-secret exemption. The Secretary must decide whether an applicant meets the basic requirements within 60 days of the application. Once accepted, an applicant has 2 years to prove it meets the certification criteria, and once certified, 5 years to actually place the project in service — or the certification expires. Total credits awarded under this program can't exceed $2,550,000,000. Of that: $800,000,000 is set aside for integrated-gasification projects that applied in the first window; $500,000,000 for other advanced coal technology projects that applied in the first window; and $1,250,000,000 for advanced coal technology projects that applied in the second window. Not later than 6 years after enactment, the Secretary must review how the credits have been allocated, and can reallocate unused amounts from the first two pools if there weren't enough qualifying applications, or if a certification got revoked because litigation or opposition delayed the project — and can run an additional certification round with any reallocated funds. Whenever the Secretary certifies a project (here or under section 48B), the applicant's identity and credit amount must be made public. (e) Qualifying advanced coal projects. To be certified, a project must, at minimum: use advanced coal-based generation technology, either to power a new electric generation unit or to retrofit/repower an existing one (including an existing natural-gas combined-cycle unit); run on fuel that's at least 75 percent coal once complete; have at least 400 megawatts of total nameplate capacity across its units at one site; show evidence that most of its output is expected to actually be used; show evidence of controlling a site big enough to build and run the project long-term; be located in the United States; and, if it applied in the second funding window, include equipment that captures and stores at least 65 percent of its total carbon dioxide emissions (70 percent for projects seeking reallocated credits). Beyond that, before final approval an applicant (except one retrofitting an existing unit) must show it has already bought, or signed a binding contract for, the main steam turbine(s) — though that contract can be conditioned on getting certified — and must have all needed federal and state environmental approvals to start construction. In choosing which projects to certify, the Secretary must spread capacity roughly equally among projects using bituminous coal, subbituminous coal, and lignite as their main fuel; give high priority to projects with greenhouse-gas capture capability, more by-product use, research partnerships with eligible schools, or other benefits the Secretary identifies; and give the very highest priority to whichever projects capture and store the largest share of their carbon dioxide. (f) Advanced coal-based generation technology. A unit counts as using this technology if it either uses integrated gasification combined cycle technology, or (with an exception for existing units, below) has a "design net heat rate" of 8,530 Btu per kilowatt-hour — that is, 40 percent efficiency — and meets performance targets: removing 99 percent of sulfur dioxide, emitting no more than 0.07 pounds of nitrogen oxides per million Btu, no more than 0.015 pounds of particulate matter per million Btu, and removing 90 percent of mercury. Units mainly burning subbituminous coal can instead hit 99 percent sulfur-dioxide removal or an emissions level of 0.04 pounds per million Btu, averaged over 30 days. "Design net heat rate" is measured in Btu per kilowatt-hour (higher heating value), based on the unit's designed annual heat input and its rated net output of power, fuel, and chemicals (not counting any steam cogeneration). It's adjusted for how energy-dense the design coal is: if the coal's heat content is between 7,000 and 13,500 Btu per pound, or 7,000 Btu per pound or less, the law gives two different multiplier formulas to adjust the heat rate accordingly. It's also corrected to standard site conditions: 500 feet elevation, 14.4 psi air pressure, 63°F dry-bulb and 54°F wet-bulb temperature, and 55 percent relative humidity. Units that already existed when this section was enacted can qualify a different way: by reaching at least 35 percent efficiency and improving their own prior efficiency by at least 7 percentage points (for coal over 9,000 Btu), 6 points (for coal between 7,000 and 9,000 Btu), or 4 points (for coal under 7,000 Btu). (g) Applicability. Using this technology, or reducing emissions with it, at a credit-eligible facility doesn't count as proof that the technology or performance level is "adequately demonstrated," "achievable," or "achievable in practice" under the listed Clean Air Act provisions governing new-source performance standards, prevention of significant deterioration, and nonattainment-area permitting. (h) Modification authority. The Secretary must modify the terms of a competitive certification award (and any related closing agreement) if the recipient asks, the change fits the section's goals, and it involves moving the project site to improve carbon capture, cut feedstock transport costs, or reach more customers — unless doing so would raise the taxpayer's available credit dollar amount or would mean the project wouldn't have been certified in the first place. The Secretary must consult other federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, before making such a change. (i) Recapture. The Secretary must claw back the credit's benefit from any project that fails to reach, or keep, the carbon capture and storage levels required under subsection (e)(1)(G).