42 U.S.C. § 13317 — Renewable energy production incentive

(a) Incentive payments: (1) For electricity generated and sold by a qualified renewable energy facility during its incentive period, the Secretary must make incentive payments to the facility's owner or operator, if Congress has appropriated the money. (2) The payment amount is set under subsection (e). (3) Payments only go out after the Secretary receives an application proving the applicant qualifies. (4)(A) If there isn't enough money appropriated in a fiscal year to pay every qualified facility in full, the Secretary must split the available funds: 60 percent to facilities using solar, wind, marine energy (as defined in section 17211 of this title), geothermal, or closed-loop biomass (energy crops grown specifically for this purpose) technology, and 40 percent to all other qualifying projects. (B) The Secretary may change these percentages, but only after explaining the reasons to Congress first. (b) Qualified renewable energy facility: A facility qualifies if it's owned by a not-for-profit electric cooperative, certain public utilities, a State or territory (or the District of Columbia) or one of their political subdivisions, an Indian tribal government or its subdivision, or a Native Corporation, and it generates electricity for sale in, or affecting, interstate commerce using solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, livestock methane, marine energy, or geothermal energy. Two things don't count: (1) burning municipal solid waste doesn't count as using biomass energy, and (2) "geothermal energy" doesn't include energy from a dry steam geothermal reservoir that has no mobile liquid in its natural state, is 95 percent water steam quality, and has an enthalpy of 1,200 Btu per pound or more for its total produced fluid. (c) Eligibility window: Only electricity from a facility first used before October 1, 2016, can earn these payments. (d) Payment period: A qualified facility can receive payments for up to 10 fiscal years. That period starts either the year its electricity first becomes eligible for payment, or the year the Secretary decides all the necessary federal and state approvals to begin construction are in place. (e) Amount of payment: (1) Payments are based on how many kilowatt-hours of electricity the facility generates using solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, livestock methane, marine energy, or geothermal energy during its payment period. The base rate is 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, adjusted as described in paragraph (2). (2) That rate gets adjusted for inflation every fiscal year after calendar year 1993, using the same method as section 29(d)(2)(B) of title 26, except substituting 1993 for 1979 as the base year. (f) Sunset: No facility can receive a payment under this section after September 30, 2026, and no facility can receive payments once it has already received them for a full 10-fiscal-year period. (g) Authorization of appropriations: Congress may provide whatever funds are necessary to carry out this section for fiscal years 2006 through 2026, and that money stays available until spent.