Change May Be Coming for Washington's Renewable Portfolio Standard
The Washington Senate Environment, Water and Energy Committee recently passed Senate Bill 5840, which if passed into law would make significant changes to the state's renewable portfolio standard, enacted by the voters in 2006 as Initiative I-937. Numerous renewable energy advocates, including the Renewable Northwest Project , think that SB 5840 is bad for renewable energy in Washington.
Currently, I-937 requires that 17 electric utilities in Washington obtain 15% of their electricity from renewables by 2020, and meet interim targets along the way. SB 5840 would have several potentially controversial effects on these requirements.
First, the bill would make it easier for utilities to rely on a provision of I-937 that excuses or reduces compliance with the renewables targets for utilities experiencing low or no load growth. RNP concludes that without sustained high load growth statewide, none of the renewables targets in I-937 would be met until after 2030 if HB 5840 becomes law.
Second, the bill would expand the types of electricity resources that count as "renewable" to include existing hydropower and biomass facilities, and energy efficiency improvements. Renewable energy advocates feel this defeats the purpose of I-937, which is to encourage development of new renewable resources. If utilities are allowed to count energy saved through conservation and renewables already online, they will have a corresponding disincentive to develop new renewables. Also, counting energy efficiency savings towards the I-937 standard is effectively double-counting, since it both increases the numerator and decreases the denominator when determining what percentage of a utility's load is generated from renewables. In summary, RNP concludes that SB 5840 would displace or prevent the development of about 1,460 average megawatts in Washington by 2020, which would virtually negate the 1,462 average megawatts of new renewables expected to be achieved by 2020 under I-937 as currently written.
Other provisions of SB 5840 are controversial too. Among them are an expansion of the geographic area in which utilities could find eligible renewables, thereby reducing economic development and job growth opportunities in Washington and the Pacific Northwest, and a provision allowing utilities to self-certify compliance with the standards without third party verification.
All in all, SB 5840 presents a major concern to renewable energy advocates seeking to defend the will of the voters of Washington when they enacted I-937 only three years ago.
Post authored by David Petersen, partner practicing in the Sustainability and Real Estate and Land Use Groups.
