What are the states doing to promote renewable energy sources?
The Northwest’s current commitment to renewable energy resources is
being carried out largely in response to the Comprehensive Review of the
Northwest Energy System of 1996. The review was called for by the
governors of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington as a means of securing
for Northwest citizens the benefits of the vast electric power system
based on the hydroelectric dams of the Columbia River and its tributaries.
Participants in the review, including hundreds of citizens who attended
meetings and submitted their concerns and opinions, recommended a
3-percent "systems benefits charge" or "public purposes
charge" on all electricity revenues in the region to be used to
continue the Northwest’s much-lauded efforts to improve energy
efficiency and make the power system more sustainable with renewable
resources.
About 19 percent of the 3 percent would be earmarked for new
renewables, including wind power, solar, geothermal, some biomass, and
hydropower in areas that are not designated as protected because of their
fish and wildlife habitat or other values.
Here’s a rundown of how states and utilities have responded:
Montana
- Montana was the first to take statewide action to ensure a steady
flow of support for renewable resource development and conservation.
Soon after the Comprehensive Review was completed, Montana’s
Legislature approved a 2.4-percent "public-purposes charge"
to encourage development of new renewables and preservation of
conservation efforts.
- The statewide program was officially kicked off in 1999 and is
expected to run for four years, after which the state can either
extend the charge or let it expire.
- To help determine how to spend the $2 million to $4 million that
will be collected through the renewables portion of the special
charge, Montana Power Company solicited proposals. About four projects
were selected to demonstrate wind and solar technologies across the
state.
- Montana Power Company is working cooperatively with the National
Center for Appropriate Technology in Butte, Montana, to install solar
electric generating facilities on about a half-dozen grade schools and
high schools in the state. The schools will also be teaching a solar
energy curriculum.
- Montana grants a property tax exemption for approved residential or
business installations.
- Montana utilities use "net billing," a process where
utilities enable customers’ electric meters to run backwards when
they are generating their own power through small-scale home systems,
including solar, hydropower, wind or other resources.
- Montana is also close to adopting rigorous policies that would
mandate utilities disclosing to their customers exactly what kinds of
power sources are supplying their electricity.
Oregon
- In 1999, Oregon’s Legislature adopted that state’s response to
the regional recommendation. Oregon instituted a 3-percent system
benefits charge to be paid by the state’s investor-owned utilities
for 10 years. Nineteen percent of that, or about $8 million annually,
is earmarked for renewables.
- Larger utility customers, such as industrial firms that use more
than a megawatt at their facilities, can opt to spend their portion of
the system benefits charge on renewable resources at their own
facilities.
- The $8 million can go toward developing new renewable power plants,
installing smaller projects on sites across the state (distributed
resources), and providing credits or developing marketing programs to
encourage customers to choose green power from their local utility.
- Oregon’s new policy only applies to investor-owned utilities and
those public utilities that open their current service territories to
competition. Nonetheless, public utilities in Oregon are, for the most
part, already leading the region in their support for green resources.
- Oregon offers personal and business tax credits and property tax
exemptions for approved renewable resource projects, along with
low-cost financing and technical assistance.
- Oregon utilities "net bill" their customers, so those that
generate some of their own electricity only pay for what they purchase
from the utility.
- Oregon has disclosure laws mandating that utilities inform their
customers of the sources of their electricity. The laws will be
implemented beginning in 2001. Some investor-owned utilities, such as
Portland General Electric, have already made this information
available to their customers.
Idaho
- Low-interest loans and tax credits are available to encourage
individuals and businesses to use renewable resources.
- "Net billing" is offered to Idaho utility customers.
Washington
- Washington offers tax credits and technical assistance to
electricity consumers who install renewable resources on their homes
and businesses. The state also offers a sales tax exemption for larger
renewable resource projects.
- Several Washington utilities, including the Snohomish Public Utility
District, Orcas Power and Electric Company, Klickitat County Public
Utility District, Tacoma City Light and Seattle City Light, are
exploring green power resources and marketing programs.
- The Washington Legislature in March approved disclosure laws to
compel utilities to tell their customers where their electricity comes
from – whether coal, gas, hydropower, renewable or other power
sources.
- Washington also has "net billing" to enable its customers
who generate some of their own electricity to run their meters
backwards when they generate their own, so they are only billed for
what they buy from the utility.
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