Vermont Opens Door Wide to Net-Metering; Utah Also Promotes Renewables
Governors in Vermont and Utah have become the latest to sign legislation intended to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, boost renewable energy generation, or both.
Of the two, Vermont’s was the more comprehensive (see text of bill). Senate Bill 209, signed by Gov. Jim Douglas, establishes an efficiency program he said was intended to help homeowners and businesses reduce fuel consumption and save money (see press release). At least part of the money would come from the state’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s cap-and-trade program.The first auction under that fast-developing program is scheduled for this fall (see press release).
One key provision in the bill appears to encourage cooperative efforts among the population to develop local renewable energy projects.
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman put his name to a measure that establishes a renewable portfolio standard for the state. Senate Bill 202 (see text) sets a goal for Utah utilities, both municipal and privately owned, that would mean 20 percent of their “adjusted” electric sales would come from renewable sources by 2025. That’s somewhat more modest than standards set in other states, including California, which has established a 20 percent renewable goal by 2010 and is considering efforts to increase that proportion.
Utah’s new law also places the 20 percent against a base of retail sales reduced by the amount of power generated by a nuclear plant or a coal plant using carbon sequestration. Additionally, it would only impose the requirement if it were “cost effective.” It also does not set interim targets. All of those qualifications drew skepticism from some observers.
“This bill is so fuzzy in terms of who it is really protecting,” Tim Wagner of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club told Climate Law Update. Wagner, who has followed the legislation closely, said it accomplished little more than codifying what major Utah utilities, including Rocky Mountain Power had already planned to do. The club did not oppose the measure, although it supported a rival bill that would have established interim goals. Wagner noted, however, that the utility was not opposed to renewables, and that the state currently has neither a nuclear plant nor a coal plant using carbon sequestration.
Neither state Sen. Curt Bramble, the legislation's Republican sponsor, nor a spokesman for the utility could be reached for comment. Bramble, however, according to a least one Salt Lake Tribune report, has said he believes that mandatory goals are not necessary.
The Vermont legislation also nods toward boosting renewable energy by stating a a state goal of producing 25 percent of the energy consumed within its borders by 2025, “particularly from Vermont’s farms and forests.” Along those lines, the bill expands the concept of “net metering,” in which customers earn credit for electricity sent back onto the grid, for systems of up to 250 kilowatts. That’s an increase over the previous limit of 15 kilowatts. Only renewable systems or small “micro-combined heat and power systems” that meet air quality standards can qualify.
Provisions in that part of the bill allow customers who are within the service area of an individual electric company to combine into a “group net metering system.” That would include farms and various buildings owned by municipalities, including water districts, fire districts, school districts and towns. In addition, scattered or “noncontiguous” groups of customers, could be bundled together if that was found to “promote the general good.” A report on the legislation distributed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s division of energy efficiency and renewable energy said the bill would allow even individuals, including residents of apartment buildings or subdivisions, to be treated as a group.
“Such group net metering could encourage people to band together to install a large renewable energy system that will serve them all,” said the energy department account.
Among other provisions, the bill establishes a energy efficiency fund that Douglas pegged at $4 million, including $2.4 million from the state’s participation in RGGI. Money from the fund will be used to provide “energy efficiency services to Vermont heating and process fuel consumers,” according to the bill, as well as carrying out “cost-effective efficiency measures and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from those sectors.”
Funding for such programs had been a sticking point for previous versions of the legislation and had led to a veto, according to news reports, including this dispatch from the Bennington Banner. In his public statement, Douglas did not directly address his earlier rejection of similar legislation but he noted it was important to protect the state’s taxpayers. He added:
“I am very proud of the fact that Vermont is the nation’s greenest state. Because we have made responsible decisions in recent years regarding our energy development and the preservation of our green space, Vermont absorbs more carbon than we produce. This puts us in a strong position to capitalize on our RGGI relationship to obtain new revenues to make sustainable [investments] in this energy efficiency and affordability.”
(Photo: Gov. Jim Douglas, courtesy Vermont governor's office)
