Connecticut Rules in Favor of Vermont Renewable Energy Credits

Connecticut regulators ruled Wednesday that credits purchased from renewable electricity generated in Vermont can count toward that state’s energy goals.

The decision means Vermont utilities can continue to sell their renewable energy credits in the regional marketplace, which brings in about $50 million a year that utilities use to lower electric rates here. The state worried that if Connecticut decided to exclude Vermont RECs, rates in the Green Mountain State would rise by 6 percent or more as soon as next year.

Legislative wrap up: Energy stances on renewable investments, merger payback, opt-out fee for smart meters and state transmission ownership lost steam

The most prominent energy issues in the Vermont Legislature this year seem to be the ones that didn’t happen.

For what seemed like half the session, lawmakers quibbled over whether to intervene in a Public Service Board docket to require utilities to give $21 million in windfall money to ratepayers. That legislation never came to fruition.

The House spent a large part of the session polishing a law that would require the state’s utilities to purchase set amounts of renewable energy. That big energy bill barely made it through, and when it did, the renewable energy mandate was stripped out.

Vermont renewable energy bill gets last-minute overhaul

It was do or die for the energy bill on Wednesday. After a fight on the Senate floor over the House proposal to expand the buildout of renewable energy projects over the next 10 years, the legislation was on life support by Tuesday night.

The options? The legislation would either pass, die in committee or delay the end of the session.

Wednesday morning a whirlwind of closed door meetings in the governor’s ceremonial office, cursory committee testimony and whisperings in hallway ensued.

Libertyville, IL adopts new energy program

The Village Board has adopted an ordinance authorizing Village participation in an electrical aggregation program that is expected to save about $200 a year off a resident’s electric bill.

The measure was initially passed in a referendum by 69 percent of the local voters in the March 20 primary election.

In a brief public hearing, with only one question from the public, the board quickly passed the enabling ordinance Tuesday night and made plans with previously-retained consultant Larry Shover, of Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative, to prepare a general mailing on Village letterhead to be sent to all residents and small businesses explaining the new alternative energy program.

Arizona Governor signs two new solar energy friendly legislations into law this week

Arizona is set to become friendlier to solar energy as Governor Jan Brewer signs two new legislations into law this week. The state boasts of a large amount of solar energy capacity that has, until very recently, been untapped. Solar energy advocates have been working to promote the power for several years, but initiatives to progress the alternative energy have long been stunted by legislative complications. This week, however, Governor Brewer signed two solar-friendly bills into law that could make Arizona one of the leaders in solar power.

Idaho utilities seek ownership of renewable energy credits

A bill that would require renewable energy credits to go to public utilities was introduced in the Senate State Affairs Committee Wednesday.

Idaho Power Co., Avista and Rocky Mountain Power Co are pushing the legislation, which would shift the ownership of the credits worth in some cases millions, from the power producers to the utilities who are required to buy the power under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act — PURPA.

Washington: House sends Hatfield's biomass bill to Gov. Gregoire

The state House on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill to include decades-old wood waste incinerators and boilers at pulp mills as renewable energy.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, now awaits Gov. Chris Gregoire's signature to become law. It is expected to allow Weyerhaeuser Co., Longview Fibre Paper & Packaging Inc. and other pulp producers to earn millions of dollars in renewable, long-term energy sales.

Wash. State Senate passes biomass bill

The Legacy Biomass Bill (SB 5575) has passed through the Washington State Senate with an overwhelming majority vote of 45-1.

The bill, sponsored by State Senator Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, will alter a 2006 initiative that excluded biomass facilities in operation before 1999 from being considered renewable energy producers. If passed by the House, the bill will also include materials such as yard waste, food waste, food processing residues and black liquor generated from the pulping and wood manufacturing process as eligible biomass products that would help meet the 2006 Initiative 937. The initiative called for public utility providers with 25,000 or more customers to meet energy conservation targets while using renewable energy resources, or to purchase renewable energy credits. Under I-937, large utility providers much generate at least 3 percent of their output from renewable energy, and 9 percent by 2016. Hatfield’s bill will start in 2016.

Vermont: Committee starts over on renewable power bill

Legislation that would require utilities to purchase green energy will go back to the drawing board, according the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy.

The bill, H.468, would have required utilities to purchase 80 percent of their power from qualifying renewable sources in 2025.

The bill set out ambitious goals for utilities, but after weeks of testimony, the second draft eased these qualifications by requiring 75 percent renewables by 2032. Thirty-five percent of those would have to come from “new” generation that came online after Dec. 31, 2004.

West Virginia: House GOP to fire back at W.Va. “cap-and-trade” bill

One of the major legislative priorities for state Republican delegates this year will be the repeal of former Gov. Joe Manchin's alternative and renewable energy portfolio standard.

GOP representatives have introduced a bill repealing all but the legislative findings of the Alternative and Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. The bill was originally introduced by Manchin in his 2009 State of the State Address.

CA: CPUC Issues Final Decision on Renewables Portfolio Standard Content Categories of SB 2X

On Dec. 15, the California Public Utilities Commission passed a highly technical and complex decision implementing portfolio content categories for the Renewables Portfolio Standard (“RPS”) program (“Final RPS Decision”). With a few exceptions, the Final RPS Decision closely mirrors the Proposed Decision which was issued on Oct. 7, 2011 and reported on in detail in an earlier advisory. Our earlier advisory also provides a good primer on the portfolio content categories for those who have not been following the RPS rulemaking (R.11-05-005).

This advisory describes the differences between the Proposed Decision and the Final RPS Decision, and discusses where the RPS rulemaking goes from here and how that might impact the energy industry.