As used in this article 4, unless the context otherwise
requires:
(1) Aircraft means any contrivance now known or hereafter invented, used,
or designed for navigation or flight through the air and designed to carry at least
one person.
(2) Airline company means any operator who engages in the carriage by
aircraft of persons or property as a common carrier for compensation or hire, or the
carriage of mail, or any aircraft operator who operates regularly between two or
more points and publishes a flight schedule. Airline company shall not include
operators whose aircraft are all certified for a gross takeoff weight of twelve
thousand five hundred pounds or less and who do not engage in scheduled or mail
carriage service.
(2.3) Biomass energy facility means a new facility first placed in production
on or after January 1, 2010, that uses real and personal property, including
leaseholds and easements, to generate and deliver to the interconnection meter
any source of electrical or mechanical energy by combusting only biomass or
biosolids derived from the treatment of wastewater and that is not primarily
designed to supply electricity for consumption on site.
(2.4) (a) Except as provided in subsection (2.4)(b) of this section, clean
energy resource has the same meaning as set forth in section 40-2-125.5 (2)(b).
(b) Clean energy resource, for purposes of property taxation under this
section, does not include nuclear energy.
(2.5) Repealed.
(2.6) Energy storage system means commercially available technology
that is capable of retaining electricity, storing the energy for a period of time, and
delivering the electricity after storage by chemical, thermal, mechanical, or other
means. Energy storage system does not include a solar energy facility, as defined
in subsection (3.5) of this section, or a wind energy facility, as defined in subsection
(4) of this section.
(2.7) Geothermal energy facility means a new facility first placed in
production on or after January 1, 2010, that uses real and personal property,
including but not limited to leaseholds and easements, to generate and deliver to
the interconnection meter any source of electrical or mechanical energy by
harnessing the heat energy of groundwater or the ground and that is not primarily
designed to supply electricity for consumption on site.
(3) (a) Public utility means, for property tax years commencing on or after
January 1, 1987, every sole proprietorship, firm, limited liability company,
partnership, association, company, or corporation, and the trustees or receivers
thereof, whether elected or appointed, that does business in this state as a railroad
company, airline company, electric company, small or low impact hydroelectric
energy facility, geothermal energy facility, biomass energy facility, wind energy
facility, solar energy facility, energy storage system, clean energy resource, rural
electric company, telephone company, telegraph company, gas company, gas
pipeline carrier company, domestic water company selling at retail except nonprofit
domestic water companies, pipeline company, coal slurry pipeline, or private car
line company.
(b) On and after January 1, 2010, for purposes of this article 4, public utility
does not include any affiliate or subsidiary of a sole proprietorship, firm, limited
liability company, partnership, association, company, or corporation of any type of
company described in subsection (3)(a) of this section that is not doing business in
the state primarily as a railroad company, airline company, electric company, small
or low impact hydroelectric energy facility, geothermal energy facility, biomass
energy facility, wind energy facility, solar energy facility, energy storage system,
clean energy resource, rural electric company, telephone company, telegraph
company, gas company, gas pipeline carrier company, domestic water company
selling at retail except nonprofit domestic water companies, pipeline company, coal
slurry pipeline, or private car line company. Valuation and taxation of any such
affiliate or subsidiary of a public utility as defined in subsection (3)(a) of this section
shall be assessed pursuant to article 5 of this title 39.
(3.3) (a) Small or low impact hydroelectric energy facility means a new
facility first placed in production on or after January 1, 2010, that uses real and
personal property, including but not limited to leaseholds and easements, to
generate and deliver to the interconnection meter any source of electrical or
mechanical energy by harnessing the kinetic energy of water, that is not primarily
designed to supply electricity for consumption on site, and that is:
(I) A new facility that is a small facility that has a nameplate rating of ten
megawatts or less; or
(II) A new facility that has a nameplate rating of more than ten megawatts
and that:
(A) Is an addition to water infrastructure such as a reservoir, a ditch, or a
pipeline that existed before January 1, 2010;
(B) Does not result in any change in the quantity or timing of diversions or
releases for purposes of peak power generation;
(C) Includes measures to prevent fish mortality in facilities on on-stream
reservoirs and natural waterways; and
(D) Does not cause any violation of state water quality standards when
operated; or
(III) A new facility that has a nameplate rating of more than ten megawatts
and that:
(A) Is placed into production as part of new water infrastructure such as a
reservoir, a ditch, or a pipeline constructed on or after January 1, 2010, and operated
for primary beneficial uses of water other than solely for production of electricity;
(B) Includes measures to prevent fish mortality in facilities on reservoirs and
natural waterways; and
(C) Does not cause any violation of state water quality standards when
operated.
(b) For purposes of this subsection (3.3), new facility includes a combined
facility that is a combination of a facility placed in production before January 1,
2010, that uses real and personal property to generate and deliver to the
interconnection meter any source of electric or mechanical energy by harnessing
the kinetic energy of water and that is not primarily designed to supply energy for
consumption on site and an addition or energy efficiency improvement to the
facility first placed in production on or after January 1, 2010, if the addition or
efficiency improvement increases the electrical or mechanical energy-producing
capacity of the combined facility by at least twenty-five percent over the capacity
of the facility placed in production before January 1, 2010, alone.
(3.5) (a) Solar energy facility means a new facility first placed in
production on or after January 1, 2009, that uses real and personal property,
including one or more solar energy devices, as defined in section 38-32.5-100.3 (2),
leaseholds, and easements, to generate and, except as provided in subsection
(3.5)(b) of this section, deliver to the interconnection meter any source of electrical,
thermal, or mechanical energy in excess of two megawatts by harnessing the
radiant energy of the sun, including any connected device for which the primary
purpose is to store energy, and that is not primarily designed to supply electricity
for consumption on site.
(b) Solar energy facility includes facilities for agrivoltaics, as defined in
section 35-1-114 (4)(a), and for floatovoltaics, as defined in section 37-60-115
(12)(c)(III).
(4) Wind energy facility means a new facility first placed in production on
or after January 1, 2006, that uses property, real and personal, including one or
more wind turbines, leaseholds, and easements, to generate and deliver to the
interconnection meter any source of electrical or mechanical energy in excess of
two megawatts by harnessing the kinetic energy of the wind, including any
connected device for which the primary purpose is to store energy.