Part II Renewables Section of Senate Energy Bill Just Released!
Just posted are the Senate Energy Bill Title2 Renewable Energy
provisions. There’s a mixed bag for ocean renewables as summarized in the following cursory overview:
Section 201(a)(i) of the bill directs the Secretary of Department of
Energy to undertake a resource assessment of renewables, including all
ocean renewables.
Section 202 of the bill authorizes funding for the Renewable Energy
Production Incentive (REPI), under which those state and local public
entities that own certain eligible renewables facilities receive a
credit for each kilowatt produced. The REPI replicates the production
tax credit (PTC) for public bodies which do not pay federal taxes and
therefore do not benefit from the PTC. In any event, although the House Version of Title II authorizes REPI’s for ocean facilities, the Senate version does not. This development does not bode well for coastal communities that are contemplating development of wave energy projects or for extending the production tax credit to include ocean renewables.
Section 203 of the Senate bill is a mandatory federal purchase which
requires the federal government to procure a certain percentage of its
power needs (a minimum of 3 percent for FY 2007-2009 and increasing
upward thereafter) from renewables. But per Section 203(2), the
federal government cannot satisfy the purchase requirement with ocean
energy. Again, unfortunate, since a small ocean energy project is located on a federal naval base in Hawaii.
Finally, Section 210 of the bill directs the Secretary of DOE to
study the potential for certain renewable technologies in “insular
areas” (essentially, islands like Guam, Virgin Islands, etc…)
Fortunately, wave energy is identified as one of the technologies for
inclusion in the assessment.
In the next few days, we’ll be posting items on what action you can
take to ensure that the Senate, like the House, recognizes ocean
renewables in Title II of the Energy Bill and treats it equally to
other renewables.
