For purposes of the Rural Community-Based Energy Development Act:

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(1) C-BED project or community-based energy development project means a new energy generation project using wind, solar, biomass, or landfill gas as the fuel source that:

(a) Has at least twenty-five percent of the gross power purchase agreement payments flowing to the qualified owner or owners or as payments to the local community; and

(b) Has a resolution of support or zoning approval adopted:

(i) By the county board of each county in which the C-BED project is to be located and which has adopted zoning regulations that require planning commission, county board, or county commission approval for the C-BED project; or

(ii) By the tribal council for a C-BED project located within the boundaries of an Indian reservation;

(2) Electric supplier means a public power district, a public power and irrigation district, an individual municipality, a registered group of municipalities, an electric membership association, or a cooperative, unless the context requires a different meaning;

(3) Gross power purchase agreement payments means the total amount of payments during the first twenty years of the agreement;

(4) Payments to the local community include, but are not limited to:

(a) Lease and easement payments to property owners made as part of a C-BED project;

(b) Contract payments for concrete, steel, gravel, towers, turbines, blades, wire, or engineering, procurement, construction, geotechnical, environmental, meteorological, or legal services or payments for other components, equipment, materials, or services that are necessary to permit or construct the C-BED project and that are provided by a company that has been organized or incorporated in Nebraska under Nebraska law and has employed at least five Nebraska residents for at least eighteen months prior to the date of the project application for certification as a C-BED project; and

(c) Payments that are for physical parts, materials, or components that are manufactured, assembled, or fabricated in Nebraska and that are not described in subdivision (a) or (b) of this subdivision.

Such payments need not be made directly from power purchase agreement revenue and may be made from other funds in advance of receiving power purchase agreement revenue; and

(5) Qualified owner means:

(a) A Nebraska resident;

(b) A limited liability company that is organized under the Nebraska Uniform Limited Liability Company Act and that is made up of members who are Nebraska residents;

(c) A Nebraska nonprofit corporation organized under the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act;

(d) A public power district, a public power and irrigation district, a municipality, a registered group of municipalities, an electric cooperative, or an electric membership association, except that qualified ownership in a single C-BED project is limited to no more than:

(i) Fifteen percent either directly or indirectly by a single electric supplier; and

(ii) A combined total of twenty-five percent either directly or indirectly by multiple electric suppliers;

(e) A tribal council;

(f) A domestic corporation organized in Nebraska under the Business Corporation Act or the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act and domiciled in Nebraska; or

(g) A cooperative corporation organized under sections 21-1301 to 21-1306 and domiciled in Nebraska.