This subpart establishes emission guidelines and approval criteria for State plans that establish standards of performance limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from an affected steam generating unit. An affected steam generating unit for the purposes of this subpart, is referred to as a designated facility. These emission guidelines are developed in accordance with section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act and subpart Ba of this part. To the extent any requirement of this subpart is inconsistent with the requirements of subpart A or Ba of this part, the requirements of this subpart will apply.

(a) The pollutants regulated by this subpart are greenhouse gases. The emission guidelines for greenhouse gases established in this subpart are heat rate improvements which target achieving lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emission rates at designated facilities.

(b) PSD and Title V Thresholds for Greenhouse Gases.

(1) For the purposes of § 51.166(b)(49)(ii) of this chapter, with respect to GHG emissions from facilities, the “pollutant that is subject to the standard promulgated under section 111 of the Act” shall be considered to be the pollutant that otherwise is subject to regulation under the Act as defined in § 51.166(b)(48) of this chapter and in any State Implementation Plan (SIP) approved by the EPA that is interpreted to incorporate, or specifically incorporates, § 51.166(b)(48) of this chapter.

(2) For the purposes of § 52.21(b)(50)(ii) of this chapter, with respect to GHG emissions from facilities regulated in the plan, the “pollutant that is subject to the standard promulgated under section 111 of the Act” shall be considered to be the pollutant that otherwise is subject to regulation under the Act as defined in § 52.21(b)(49) of this chapter.

(3) For the purposes of § 70.2 of this chapter, with respect to greenhouse gas emissions from facilities regulated in the plan, the “pollutant that is subject to any standard promulgated under section 111 of the Act” shall be considered to be the pollutant that otherwise is “subject to regulation” as defined in § 70.2 of this chapter.

(4) For the purposes of § 71.2 of this chapter, with respect to greenhouse gas emissions from facilities regulated in the plan, the “pollutant that is subject to any standard promulgated under section 111 of the Act” shall be considered to be the pollutant that otherwise is “subject to regulation” as defined in § 71.2 of this chapter.

If you are the Governor of a State in the contiguous United States with one or more designated facilities that commenced construction on or before January 8, 2014, you are subject to this action and you must submit a State plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that implements the emission guidelines contained in this subpart. If you are the Governor of a State in the contiguous United States with no designated facilities for which construction commenced on or before January 8, 2014, in your State, you must submit a negative declaration letter in place of the State plan.

The EPA will review your plan according to § 60.27a to approve or disapprove such plan or revision or each portion thereof.

(a) If you do not submit a complete or an approvable plan the EPA will develop a Federal plan for your State according to § 60.27a. The Federal plan will implement the emission guidelines contained in this subpart. Owners and operators of designated facilities not covered by an approved plan must comply with a Federal plan implemented by the EPA for the State.

(b) After a Federal plan has been implemented in your State, it will be withdrawn when your State submits, and the EPA approves, a plan.

A State may meet its CAA section 111(d) obligations only by submitting a State plan submittal or a negative declaration letter (if applicable).

The EPA has no formal review process for negative declaration letters. Once your negative declaration letter has been received, the EPA will place a copy in the public docket and publish a notice in the Federal Register. If, at a later date, a designated facility for which construction commenced on or before January 8, 2014 is found in your State, you will be found to have failed to submit a plan as required, and a Federal plan implementing the emission guidelines contained in this subpart, when promulgated by the EPA, will apply to that designated facility until you submit, and the EPA approves, a State plan.

(a) You must include the components described in paragraphs (a)(1) through (4) of this section in your plan submittal. The final plan must meet the requirements of, and include the information required under, § 60.5740a.

(1) Identification of designated facilities. Consistent with § 60.25a(a), you must identify the designated facilities covered by your plan and all designated facilities in your State that meet the applicability criteria in § 60.5775a. In addition, you must include an inventory of CO2 emissions from the designated facilities during the most recent calendar year for which data is available prior to the submission of the plan.

(2) Standards of performance. You must provide a standard of performance for each designated facility according to § 60.5755a and compliance periods for each standard of performance according to § 60.5750a. Each standard of performance must reflect the degree of emission limitation achievable through application of the heat rate improvements described in § 60.5740a. In applying the heat rate improvements described in § 60.5740a, a state may consider remaining useful life and other factors, as provided for in § 60.24a(e).

(3) Identification of applicable monitoring, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements for each designated facility. You must include in your plan all applicable monitoring, reporting and recordkeeping requirements for each designated facility and the requirements must be consistent with or no less stringent than the requirements specified in § 60.5785a.

(4) State reporting. Your plan must include a description of the process, contents, and schedule for State reporting to the EPA about plan implementation and progress, including information required under § 60.5795a.

(b) You must follow the requirements of subpart Ba of this part and demonstrate that they were met in your State plan.

(a) In addition to the components of the plan listed in § 60.5735a, a state plan submittal to the EPA must include the information in paragraphs (a)(1) through (8) of this section. This information must be submitted to the EPA as part of your plan submittal but will not be codified as part of the federally enforceable plan upon approval by EPA.

(1) You must include a summary of how you determined each standard of performance for each designated facility according to § 60.5755a(a). You must include in the summary an evaluation of the applicability of each of the following heat rate improvements to each designated facility:

(i) Neural network/intelligent sootblowers;

(ii) Boiler feed pumps;

(iii) Air heater and duct leakage control;

(iv) Variable frequency drives;

(v) Blade path upgrades for steam turbines;

(vi) Redesign or replacement of economizer; and

(vii) Improved operating and maintenance practices.

(2)(i) As part of the summary under paragraph (a)(1) of this section regarding the applicability of each heat rate improvement to each designated facility, you must include an evaluation of the following degree of emission limitation achievable through application of the heat rate improvements:

(ii) In applying a standard of performance, if you consider remaining useful life and other factors for a designated facility as provided in § 60.24a(e), you must include a summary of the application of the relevant factors in deriving a standard of performance.

(3) You must include a demonstration that each designated facility's standard of performance is quantifiable, permanent, verifiable, and enforceable according to § 60.5755a.

(4) Your plan demonstration must include the information listed in paragraphs (a)(4)(i) through (v) of this section as applicable.

(i) A summary of each designated facility's anticipated future operation characteristics, including:

(A) Annual generation;

(B) CO2 emissions;

(C) Fuel use, fuel prices, fuel carbon content;

(D) Fixed and variable operations and maintenance costs;

(E) Heat rates; and

(F) Electric generation capacity and capacity factors.

(ii) A timeline for implementation.

(iii) All wholesale electricity prices.

(iv) A time period of analysis, which must extend through at least 2035.

(v) A demonstration that each standard of performance included in your plan meets the requirements of § 60.5755a.

(5) Your plan submittal must include certification that a hearing required under § 60.23a(c)on the State plan was held, a list of witnesses and their organizational affiliations, if any, appearing at the hearing, and a brief written summary of each presentation or written submission, pursuant to the requirements of § 60.23a(g).

(6) Your plan submittal must include supporting material for your plan including:

(i) Materials demonstrating the State's legal authority to implement and enforce each component of its plan, including standards of performance, pursuant to the requirements of §§ 60.26a and 60.5740a(a)(6);

(ii) Materials supporting calculations for designated facility's standards of performance according to § 60.5755a; and

(iii) Any other materials necessary to support evaluation of the plan by the EPA.

(b) You must submit your final plan to the EPA according to § 60.5800a.

You must submit a plan with the information required under § 60.5740a by April 15, 2024.

The EPA is superseding the requirement at § 60.22a(b)(5) for EPA to provide compliance timelines in the emission guidelines. Each standard of performance for designated facilities regulated under the plan must include a compliance period that ensures the standard of performance reflects the degree of emission limitation achievable though application of the heat rate improvements used to calculate the standard. The schedules and compliance periods included in a plan must follow the requirements of § 60.24a.

(a) You must set a standard of performance for each designated facility within the state.

(1) The standard of performance must be an emission performance rate relating mass of CO2 emitted per unit of energy (e.g. pounds of CO2 emitted per MWh).

(2) In establishing any standard of performance, you must consider the applicability of each of the heat rate improvements and associated degree of emission limitation achievable included in § 60.5740a(a)(1) and (2) to the designated facility. You must include a demonstration in your plan submission for how you considered each heat rate improvement and associated degree of emission limitation achievable in calculating each standard of performance.

(i) In applying a standard of performance to any designated facility, you may consider the source-specific factors included in § 60.24a(e).

(ii) If you consider source-specific factors to apply a standard of performance, you must include a demonstration in your plan submission for how you considered such factors.

(b) Standards of performance for designated facilities included under your plan must be demonstrated to be quantifiable, verifiable, permanent, and enforceable with respect to each designated facility. The plan submittal must include the methods by which each standard of performance meets each of the requirements in paragraphs (c) through (f) of this section.

(c) A designated facility's standard of performance is quantifiable if it can be reliably measured in a manner that can be replicated.

(d) A designated facility's standard of performance is verifiable if adequate monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements are in place to enable the State and the Administrator to independently evaluate, measure, and verify compliance with the standard of performance.

(e) A designated facility's standard of performance is permanent if the standard of performance must be met for each compliance period, unless it is replaced by another standard of performance in an approved plan revision.

(f) A designated facility's standard of performance is enforceable if:

(1) A technically accurate limitation or requirement and the time period for the limitation or requirement are specified;

(2) Compliance requirements are clearly defined;

(3) The designated facility responsible for compliance and liable for violations can be identified;

(4) Each compliance activity or measure is enforceable as a practical matter; and

(5) The Administrator, the State, and third parties maintain the ability to enforce against violations (including if a designated facility does not meet its standard of performance based on its emissions) and secure appropriate corrective actions, in the case of the Administrator pursuant to CAA sections 113(a) through (h), in the case of a State, pursuant to its plan, State law or CAA section 304, as applicable, and in the case of third parties, pursuant to CAA section 304.

EPA-approved plans can be revised only with approval by the Administrator. The Administrator will approve a plan revision if it is satisfactory with respect to the applicable requirements of this subpart and any applicable requirements of subpart Ba of this part, including the requirements in § 60.5740a. If one (or more) of the elements of the plan set in § 60.5735a require revision, a request must be submitted to the Administrator indicating the proposed revisions to the plan.

To meet your plan obligations, you must demonstrate that your designated facilities are complying with their standards of performance as specified in § 60.5755a.

(a) This subpart does not directly affect EGU owners or operators in your State. However, designated facility owners or operators must comply with the plan that a State develops to implement the emission guidelines contained in this subpart.

(b) If a State does not submit a plan to implement and enforce the emission guidelines contained in this subpart by July 8, 2022, or the date that EPA disapproves a final plan, the EPA will implement and enforce a Federal plan, as provided in § 60.27a(c), applicable to each designated facility within the State that commenced construction on or before January 8, 2014.

(a) The EGUs that must be addressed by your plan are any designated facility that commenced construction on or before January 8, 2014.

(b) A designated facility is a steam generating unit that meets the relevant applicability conditions specified in paragraphs (b)(1) through (3) of this section, as applicable, of this section except as provided in § 60.5780a.

(1) Serves a generator connected to a utility power distribution system with a nameplate capacity greater than 25 MW-net (i.e., capable of selling greater than 25 MW of electricity).

(2) Has a base load rating (i.e., design heat input capacity) greater than 260 GJ/hr (250 MMBtu/hr) heat input of fossil fuel (either alone or in combination with any other fuel).

(3) Is an electric utility steam generating unit that burns coal for more than 10.0 percent of the average annual heat input during the 3 previous calendar years.

(a) An EGU that is excluded from being a designated facility is:

(1) An EGU that is subject to subpart TTTT of this part as a result of commencing construction, reconstruction or modification after the subpart TTTT applicability date;

(2) A steam generating unit that is subject to a federally enforceable permit limiting annual net-electric sales to one-third or less of its potential electric output, or 219,000 MWh or less;

(3) A stationary combustion turbine that meets the definition of a simple cycle stationary combustion turbine, a combined cycle stationary combustion turbine, or a combined heat and power combustion turbine;

(4) An IGCC unit;

(5) A non-fossil unit (i.e., a unit that is capable of combusting 50 percent or more non-fossil fuel) that has always limited the use of fossil fuels to 10 percent or less of the annual capacity factor or is subject to a federally enforceable permit limiting fossil fuel use to 10 percent or less of the annual capacity factor;

(6) An EGU that serves a generator along with other steam generating unit(s), IGCC(s), or stationary combustion turbine(s) where the effective generation capacity (determined based on a prorated output of the base load rating of each steam generating unit, IGCC, or stationary combustion turbine) is 25 MW or less;

(7) An EGU that is a municipal waste combustor unit that is subject to subpart Eb of this part;

(8) An EGU that is a commercial or industrial solid waste incineration unit that is subject to subpart CCCC of this part; or

(9) A steam generating unit that fires more than 50 percent non-fossil fuels.

(b) [Reserved]

(a) Your plan must include monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements for designated facilities. To satisfy this requirement, you have the option of either:

(1) Specifying that sources must report emission and electricity generation data according to part 75 of this chapter; or

(2) Including an alternative monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting program that includes specifications for the following program elements:

(i) Monitoring plans that specify the monitoring methods, systems, and formulas that will be used to measure CO2 emissions;

(ii) Monitoring methods to continuously and accurately measure all CO2 emissions, CO2 emission rates, and other data necessary to determine compliance or assure data quality;

(iii) Quality assurance test requirements to ensure monitoring systems provide reliable and accurate data for assessing and verifying compliance;

(iv) Recordkeeping requirements;

(v) Electronic reporting procedures and systems; and

(vi) Data validation procedures for ensuring data are complete and calculated consistent with program rules, including procedures for determining substitute data in instances where required data would otherwise be incomplete.

(b) [Reserved]

(a) You must keep records of all information relied upon in support of any demonstration of plan components, plan requirements, supporting documentation, and the status of meeting the plan requirements defined in the plan. After the effective date of the plan, States must keep records of all information relied upon in support of any continued demonstration that the final standards of performance are being achieved.

(b) You must keep records of all data submitted by the owner or operator of each designated facility that is used to determine compliance with each designated facility emissions standard or requirements in an approved State plan, consistent with the designated facility requirements listed in § 60.5785a.

(c) If your State has a requirement for all hourly CO2 emissions and generation information to be used to calculate compliance with an annual emissions standard for designated facilities, any information that is submitted by the owners or operators of designated facilities to the EPA electronically pursuant to requirements in part 75 of this chapter meets the recordkeeping requirement of this section and you are not required to keep records of information that would be in duplicate of paragraph (b) of this section.

(d) You must keep records at a minimum for 5 years from the date the record is used to determine compliance with a standard of performance or plan requirement. Each record must be in a form suitable and readily available for expeditious review.

You must submit an annual report as required under § 60.25a(e) and (f).

(a) You must submit to the EPA the information required by these emission guidelines following the procedures in paragraphs (b) through (e) of this section unless you submit through the procedure described in paragraph (f) of this section.

(b) All negative declarations, State plan submittals, supporting materials that are part of a State plan submittal, any plan revisions, and all State reports required to be submitted to the EPA by the State plan may be reported through EPA's electronic reporting system to be named and made available at a later date.

(c) Only a submittal by the Governor or the Governor's designee by an electronic submission through SPeCS shall be considered an official submittal to the EPA under this subpart. If the Governor wishes to designate another responsible official the authority to submit a State plan, the EPA must be notified via letter from the Governor prior to the July 8, 2022, deadline for plan submittal so that the official will have the ability to submit a plan in the SPeCS. If the Governor has previously delegated authority to make CAA submittals on the Governor's behalf, a State may submit documentation of the delegation in lieu of a letter from the Governor. The letter or documentation must identify the designee to whom authority is being designated and must include the name and contact information for the designee and also identify the State plan preparers who will need access to the EPA electronic reporting system. A State may also submit the names of the State plan preparers via a separate letter prior to the designation letter from the Governor in order to expedite the State plan administrative process. Required contact information for the designee and preparers includes the person's title, organization, and email address.

(d) The submission of the information by the authorized official must be in a non-editable format. In addition to the non-editable version all plan components designated as federally enforceable must also be submitted in an editable version.

(e) You must provide the EPA with non-editable and editable copies of any submitted revision to existing approved federally enforceable plan components. The editable copy of any such submitted plan revision must indicate the changes made at the State level, if any, to the existing approved federally enforceable plan components, using a mechanism such as redline/strikethrough. These changes are not part of the State plan until formal approval by EPA.

(f) If, in lieu of the requirements described in paragraphs (b) through (e) of this section, you choose to submit a paper copy or an electronic version by other means you must confer with your EPA Regional Office regarding the additional guidelines for submitting your plan.

As used in this subpart, all terms not defined herein will have the meaning given them in the Clean Air Act and in subparts TTTT, A, and Ba of this part.

Air Heater means a device that recovers heat from the flue gas for use in pre-heating the incoming combustion air and potentially for other uses such as coal drying.

Annual capacity factor means the ratio between the actual heat input to an EGU during a calendar year and the potential heat input to the EGU had it been operated for 8,760 hours during a calendar year at the base load rating.

Base load rating means the maximum amount of heat input (fuel) that an EGU can combust on a steady-state basis, as determined by the physical design and characteristics of the EGU at ISO conditions.

Boiler feed pump (or boiler feedwater pump) means a device used to pump feedwater into a steam boiler at an EGU. The water may be either freshly supplied or returning condensate produced from condensing steam produced by the boiler.

CO2 emission rate means for a designated facility, the reported CO2 emission rate of a designated facility used by a designated facility to demonstrate compliance with its CO2 standard of performance.

Combined cycle unit means an electric generating unit that uses a stationary combustion turbine from which the heat from the turbine exhaust gases is recovered by a heat recovery steam generating unit to generate additional electricity.

Combined heat and power unit or CHP unit (also known as “cogeneration”) means an electric generating unit that uses a steam-generating unit or stationary combustion turbine to simultaneously produce both electric (or mechanical) and useful thermal output from the same primary energy source.

Compliance period means a discrete time period for a designated facility to comply with a standard of performance.

Designated facility means a steam generating unit that meets the relevant applicability conditions in section § 60.5775a, except as provided in § 60.5780a.

Economizer means a heat exchange device used to capture waste heat from boiler flue gas which is then used to heat the boiler feedwater.

Fossil fuel means natural gas, petroleum, coal, and any form of solid fuel, liquid fuel, or gaseous fuel derived from such material to create useful heat.

Integrated gasification combined cycle facility or IGCC means a combined cycle facility that is designed to burn fuels containing 50 percent (by heat input) or more solid-derived fuel not meeting the definition of natural gas plus any integrated equipment that provides electricity or useful thermal output to either the affected facility or auxiliary equipment. The Administrator may waive the 50 percent solid-derived fuel requirement during periods of the gasification system construction, startup and commissioning, shutdown, or repair. No solid fuel is directly burned in the unit during operation.

Intelligent sootblower means an automated system that use process measurements to monitor the heat transfer performance and strategically allocate steam to specific areas to remove ash buildup at a steam generating unit.

ISO conditions means 288 Kelvin (15 °C), 60 percent relative humidity and 101.3 kilopascals pressure.

Nameplate capacity means, starting from the initial installation, the maximum electrical generating output that a generator, prime mover, or other electric power production equipment under specific conditions designated by the manufacturer is capable of producing (in MWe, rounded to the nearest tenth) on a steady-state basis and during continuous operation (when not restricted by seasonal or other deratings) as of such installation as specified by the manufacturer of the equipment, or starting from the completion of any subsequent physical change resulting in an increase in the maximum electrical generating output that the equipment is capable of producing on a steady-state basis and during continuous operation (when not restricted by seasonal or other deratings), such increased maximum amount (in MWe, rounded to the nearest tenth) as of such completion as specified by the person conducting the physical change.

Natural gas means a fluid mixture of hydrocarbons (e.g., methane, ethane, or propane), composed of at least 70 percent methane by volume or that has a gross calorific value between 35 and 41 megajoules (MJ) per dry standard cubic meter (950 and 1,100 Btu per dry standard cubic foot), that maintains a gaseous State under ISO conditions. In addition, natural gas contains 20.0 grains or less of total sulfur per 100 standard cubic feet. Finally, natural gas does not include the following gaseous fuels: Landfill gas, digester gas, refinery gas, sour gas, blast furnace gas, coal-derived gas, producer gas, coke oven gas, or any gaseous fuel produced in a process which might result in highly variable sulfur content or heating value.

Net electric output means the amount of gross generation the generator(s) produce (including, but not limited to, output from steam turbine(s), combustion turbine(s), and gas expander(s)), as measured at the generator terminals, less the electricity used to operate the plant (i.e., auxiliary loads); such uses include fuel handling equipment, pumps, fans, pollution control equipment, other electricity needs, and transformer losses as measured at the transmission side of the step up transformer (e.g., the point of sale).

Net energy output means:

(1) The net electric or mechanical output from the affected facility, plus 100 percent of the useful thermal output measured relative to SATP conditions that is not used to generate additional electric or mechanical output or to enhance the performance of the unit (e.g., steam delivered to an industrial process for a heating application).

(2) For combined heat and power facilities where at least 20.0 percent of the total gross or net energy output consists of electric or direct mechanical output and at least 20.0 percent of the total gross or net energy output consists of useful thermal output on a 12-operating month rolling average basis, the net electric or mechanical output from the designated facility divided by 0.95, plus 100 percent of the useful thermal output; (e.g., steam delivered to an industrial process for a heating application).

Neural network means a computer model that can be used to optimize combustion conditions, steam temperatures, and air pollution at steam generating unit.

Simple cycle combustion turbine means any stationary combustion turbine which does not recover heat from the combustion turbine engine exhaust gases for purposes other than enhancing the performance of the stationary combustion turbine itself.

Standard ambient temperature and pressure (SATP) conditions means 298.15 Kelvin (25 °C, 77 °F) and 100.0 kilopascals (14.504 psi, 0.987 atm) pressure. The enthalpy of water at SATP conditions is 50 Btu/lb.

State agent means an entity acting on behalf of the State, with the legal authority of the State.

Stationary combustion turbine means all equipment, including but not limited to the turbine engine, the fuel, air, lubrication and exhaust gas systems, control systems (except emissions control equipment), heat recovery system, fuel compressor, heater, and/or pump, post-combustion emissions control technology, and any ancillary components and sub-components comprising any simple cycle stationary combustion turbine, any combined cycle combustion turbine, and any combined heat and power combustion turbine based system plus any integrated equipment that provides electricity or useful thermal output to the combustion turbine engine, heat recovery system or auxiliary equipment. Stationary means that the combustion turbine is not self-propelled or intended to be propelled while performing its function. It may, however, be mounted on a vehicle for portability. If a stationary combustion turbine burns any solid fuel directly it is considered a steam generating unit.

Steam generating unit means any furnace, boiler, or other device used for combusting fuel and producing steam (nuclear steam generators are not included) plus any integrated equipment that provides electricity or useful thermal output to the affected facility or auxiliary equipment.

Useful thermal output means the thermal energy made available for use in any heating application (e.g., steam delivered to an industrial process for a heating application, including thermal cooling applications) that is not used for electric generation, mechanical output at the designated facility, to directly enhance the performance of the designated facility (e.g., economizer output is not useful thermal output, but thermal energy used to reduce fuel moisture is considered useful thermal output), or to supply energy to a pollution control device at the designated facility. Useful thermal output for designated facility(s) with no condensate return (or other thermal energy input to the designated facility(s)) or where measuring the energy in the condensate (or other thermal energy input to the designated facility(s)) would not meaningfully impact the emission rate calculation is measured against the energy in the thermal output at SATP conditions. Designated facility(s) with meaningful energy in the condensate return (or other thermal energy input to the designated facility) must measure the energy in the condensate and subtract that energy relative to SATP conditions from the measured thermal output.

Variable frequency drive means an adjustable-speed drive used on induced draft fans and boiler feed pumps to control motor speed and torque by varying motor input frequency and voltage.