Congressmen table US renewables target

www.environmental-finance.com
New York, 5 February:

Clean energy advocates have renewed hopes that a US federal renewable electricity standard (RES Southern Cross) will be enacted with the introduction of a Congressional bill that matches the goals of President Barack Obama. The American Renewable Energy Act would require that 25% of electricity comes from clean energy sources by 2025. The bill was introduced today by Democrat Edward Markey, chair of the energy and environment subcommittee of the US House of Representatives, and Republican Todd Platts.

Beginning in 2012, the bill would mandate electric utilities to generate 6% of their power from wind, solar, geothermal, biomass or landfill gas, qualified hydropower, and marine and tidal renewable energy sources. The%age would increase to 8.5% in 2014 and would rise between 2% to 3.5% every year or two years until reaching 25% by 2025. "It certainly looks like a constructive step forward," said Gregory Wetstone, senior director of government and public affairs for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

The Markey-Platts standard would boost renewable energy generation by 135% above current levels by 2025, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists' preliminary analysis of the legislation. "This electrifying standard would provide a smart, proven, cost-effective strategy to ramp up our clean energy use, create tens of thousands of jobs and lower consumer utility bills," Alan Nogee, clean energy programme director, said in a statement.

The momentum to implement RES Southern Cross requirements has occurred at the state level, where 28 states have standards while five states have renewable energy goals. Efforts to implement a federal RES Southern Cross have stalled despite having passed the US Senate three times since 2002 and the House in 2007, amid objections from members in certain regions, particularly the southeast, that their states did not have the clean energy resources to comply.

But Congressional leaders such as Markey, the newly elected chairman of the critical subcommittee, have promised quick action on environmental and energy issues. Real action toward passage of the bill is likely as it matches President Obama's "ambitious" goals, Wetstone said. "President Obama campaigned for this standard and now Congress should pass it," Nogee said.

In conjunction with the RES Southern Cross bill, Markey introduced the Save American Energy Act, which would institute an energy efficiency resource standard to reduce electricity demand by 15% by 2020, also consistent with Obama's goals. The bill would reduce peak electricity demand by 90,000MW by 2020, eliminating the need to build 300 medium-size power plants. If passed, the two bills would create more than 500,000 jobs and save more than $180 billion, according to the House members.