Section 437.05. Baseline determination.

  Any person wishing to register a VER shall determine a baseline in order to quantify the amount of emissions reduced or avoided or the amount of carbon sequestered, except as provided in sub. (4) . Baselines shall be determined as follows:

(1)   Standard baseline.

(a) Emission reductions. Baselines for emission reduction actions shall be determined as the average annual actual emissions or emission rate for the 2 years immediately preceding the year in which the VER action is taken.

(b) Avoided emissions.

1. Baselines for renewable energy projects shall be determined as the average annual emission rate for the Wisconsin generating system of the electric power generator whose emissions are avoided by the renewable energy project, in terms of mass per unit of energy produced. The average annual emission rate shall be the average of the emission rates for the 2 years immediately preceding the year in which the VER action is taken.

2. Baselines for energy efficiency projects shall be determined as the average annual emission rate for the Wisconsin generating system of the electric power generator whose emissions are avoided by the energy efficiency project, in terms of mass per unit of energy produced. The average annual emission rate shall be the average of the emission rates for the 2 years immediately preceding the year in which the VER action is taken.

(2)   Alternative baselines.

(a) Alternative years may be used to determine the baseline if the 2 years immediately preceding the year in which the emission reduction or avoidance action was taken are not representative of the emissions or emission rate before the emission reduction action was taken. Any person using alternative years shall submit documentation to the department explaining the reason for the use of different years.

(b) For VER projects for which there are no prior emissions, the baseline shall be determined as the emission limits or performance standards required by law, if applicable. If there are no applicable emission limits or performance standards, the baseline shall be determined as the industry or activity average emission or emission rate. Any person using an alternative baseline under this subsection shall submit documentation to the department describing how the baseline was determined.

(c) For VERs that result from actions taken to comply with a law and that result in emissions which are lower than those required by law, the baseline shall be the standard baseline as described in sub. (1) or the emission limits required by law, whichever is less.

(3)   Baseline for carbon sequestration. For carbon sequestration projects, the baseline shall be determined as the amount of carbon, quantified in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, stored in the carbon sequestration project area at the beginning of the project.

(4)   No baseline. When no quantification protocol is available to determine a baseline, the action may be registered without determining a baseline.

History: CR 02-012 : cr. Register October 2002 No. 562 , eff. 11-1-02.