Welcome to OREC’s Teleconference Briefing on the Energy Bill

Welcome to OREC’s teleconference briefing on the Energy Bill, provided by OREC principals Carolyn Elefant and Sean O’Neill as well as lobbyist/consultants Damian Kunko of SMI and Scott Lindsay (participating remotely) of SML Consulting.  Below is a photo of Sean, Damian and Carolyn prepping for the call.  For those who may have missed our call, you can read the summary that we provided at the preceding post.  And of course, we welcome any questions or comments that you may have.

OREC Summary of the Energy Bill

Here’s the conference version of the Energy Bill (pdf)
(in all its 1724 page glory!).  We weren’t able to highlight the provisions relevant to ocean but we’ve summarized them here.  To navigate the bill, we recommend using Adobe’s word search feature to locate certain passages of interest.

We’re happy to report that this is the first piece of legislation in more than two decades that accords federal recognition to ocean renewable energy.  Thus, for the first time, all forms of ocean energy - wave, tidal, current and OTEC - qualify for a renewable energy production incentive (REPI) and are considered eligible renewables for purposes of the mandatory federal purchase requirement.   Even better, the Energy Bill contains various financial incentives that might benefit ocean, including funding programs for rural communities interested in renewables (including ocea), loan guarantees for new technologies and programs to study ocean energy potential on federal lands. 

But while OREC and ocean gained big in the portions of the energy bill, the production tax credit (PTC) for ocean, that was included in the Senate Version of the Energy Bill was dropped at the last hour.  Though ocean renewables would hardly had only a de mininimus impact on the budget, there was a  need to drop programs and ocean was left out.  In addition, because the PTC was extended only two years rather than the five that most renewable groups had hoped, it was believed that ocean would not be able to benefit from the PTC given its short duration.  OREC looks forward to renewing the battle for the PTC both during conference corrections and when the PTC comes up for renewal in two years.

Click on read more for our section by section analysis (prepared by Damian Kunko of SMI, Scott Lindsay and last section by Carolyn Elefant of OREC).

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The Energy Bill Passes - and Ocean Renewables Gain Recognition!

"The Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition (OREC) will continue to promote our
industry’s interests. We made a difference in this year’s energy bill,"
stated Sean O’Neill, President of OREC. "There is still much to be done
to help ensure our energy security into the future. While we’ve been
included in several of the most important provisions, ocean energy
needs to be included in the Production Tax Credits next time around. In
the meantime, our highest priorities will be regulatory and permitting
reform."

"We began this campaign three months ago," stated OREC CEO,
Carolyn Elefant. "It was clear the industry needed a voice in
Washington. Together, our voices have quickly become one unified, and
effective, chorus. Our message has been that ocean energy provides the
greatest potential rewards at the lowest possible cost. We are pleased
that renewable energy technologies-especially ocean renewables-are now
included as part of the solution to our energy security."

FERC Signs MOU With Corps - Why Not Other Agencies?

According to this Press Release, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Corps of Engineers "to streamline regulatory processes through early coordination to
identify project purposes, needs and alternatives that each agency can
use in carrying out its respective regulatory responsibilities."  The MOU will apply to FERC’s  licensing of  interstate natural gas pipelines, storage facilities and liquified natural gas terminals (LNG’s), processes which also impinge on the Corps’ jurisdiction under the Rivers and Harbors Act and Clean Water Act. 

The FERC-Corps MOU does not affect the licensing process for ocean projects directly (in fact, the Corps does not typically require a Section 10 permit when FERC issues a license).  But the whole concept of  "streamlining" is very relevant to licensing kinetic hydro, wave and tidal/current projects because it can expedite an already lengthy process.  One of our goals at OREC for the upcoming year will be to encourage FERC and other agencies to enter into MOUs to speed up the permitting process.

OREC Member Gains Relief at FERC

Last week, one of OREC’s members, Verdant Power obtained temporary relief from FERC’s licensing requirements as reported in our press release,  FERC OK’s Testing New Kinetic Hydropower Plant in New York City’s East River.   The FERC’s order can be viewed here (PDF) and we’ve reprinted our press release (which also appeared in Renewable Energy Access on July 29, 2005):

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), granted Verdant Power, LLC’s request to clarify that they do not require a license to deploy, on a short term (18 months), experimental basis, six 36 kW tidal power turbine units that will temporarily supply power to two customers on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, at no cost. Verdant had argued that it needed to install projects and connect them to actual customers to study and evaluate how they would operate in real world conditions. Verdant will use the results of its second 18- month study to enable them to complete its application for a FERC license. 

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