Legislation in Texas has doubled the state’s commitment to renewable energy development and a report on California’s efforts indicates progress on meet its 20 percent renewable portfolio standard (RPS) years earlier than required.
The U.S. House and Senate have passed different versions of a national energy bill. A Conference Committee is trying to work out an agreement on a final bill. We took a look at the votes on various provisions in the bills and created some charts showing the differences based on political party affiliation.
We’re more interested on what’s going on at the state and local levels but from time to time it is instructive to look at what’s coming down from the top in terms of energy policy.
Over three years, Klickitat County in southern Washington, studied the potential impacts of future energy projects within its borders and came up with a plan to direct those projects to the most appropriate areas. The county’s new "Energy Overlay Zone" is a zoning tool aimed at expediting renewable energy development. The Energy Overlay Zone covers more than 1,000 square miles, two-thirds of Klickitat County.
The Connecticut legislature has sent the Governor a bill that calls for on-site distributed generation (DG) to meet a growing portion of the state’s electricity supply.
Since Massachusetts established their interconnection standards for distributed generation projects in February 2004, 105 projects have been approved and about 40 others are under review.
Under a new law, utilities in Nevada will now be able to count electricity savings from energy conservation programs as meeting the state’s renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS).
Preferring the term “gas-optional” vehicles rather than plug-in electric hybrids, Austin Energy has adopted a strategy to diversify and grow its electric utility operations and hopes to convince cities nationwide to follow their lead.
Roger Duncan at Austin Energy is traveling the country promoting the idea that the time is ripe for a convergence of municipally owned electrical operations with the transportation sector. The fit becomes natural through the increased use of gas-optional vehicles (GOVs).
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has adopted standard rules for interconnecting distributed generation (DG) projects of 20 MW or less with the electricity grid. These new rules will operate alongside FERC’s previously issued rules that govern interconnections of DG projects larger than 20 MW. FERC also has an ongoing proceeding that is developing special rules for interconnecting wind energy projects with the grid [see FERC’s Generation Interconnection web site].
Two proposals unanimously passed by the legislature and signed into law earlier this month by Washington’s Governor, Christine Gregoire, should put distributed generation and renewable energy on the fast track in the state. The first bill (SB 5101) establishes a renewable energy production incentive that is larger if the equipment comes from in-state manufacturers. The second bill (SB 5111) provides corporate tax breaks for solar energy businesses in the state based on their sales.
