Montana § 90-4-1203 - Authority To Acquire, Construct, And Operate Projects

§ 90-4-1203. Authority To Acquire, Construct, And Operate Projects

Authority to acquire, construct, and operate projects. A governmental body may: (1) acquire, construct, reconstruct, extend, or improve a project within or outside of the boundaries of the governmental body or partially within or partially outside the boundaries of the governmental body; (2) acquire any interest in or any right to capacity of a project and acquire by gift, purchase, or lease land or rights in land or other real or personal property that is necessary for the ownership, operation, or maintenance of a project; (3) operate and maintain a project to provide electricity for its own use and, to the extent that production is in excess of its own requirements, sell the production to: (a) a party allowed to choose an electricity supplier under 69-8-201 ; (b) a public utility or cooperative; (c) through June 30, 2009, a public utility under a qualifying contract governed by Title 69, chapter 3, part 6, if: (i) the commission determines that adequate ancillary services are available for increases in the amount of intermittent generation resources connected to the transmission grid; (ii) the cost of any ancillary services provided to the generator by the public utility can be adjusted to reflect actual costs, the costs are deductible by the public utility from the price of electricity paid to the generator, and adjustments may be made as frequently as every 12 months; and (iii) the public utility can refuse acceptance of electricity from the generator when the loss of ancillary services threatens system reliability or the public utility is unable to purchase sufficient ancillary services to meet its obligations, subject to 90 days' written notice to the generator; (d) a competitive electricity supplier; or (e) an out-of-state purchaser; (4) prescribe and collect rates, fees, and charges for the services and facilities furnished by a project; (5) enter into and perform contracts and agreements that are necessary for the planning, construction, lease, operation, and maintenance of a project and the sale, transmission, distribution, or exchange of the electricity generated from the project on terms and for a period of time that its governing authority may determine; (6) contract with a person or entity, within or outside the state, for the construction of a project, for the sale or transmission of electricity generated by a project, or for any interest in the project or any right to capacity of the project on terms and conditions that its governing authority may determine.