By Michael J. Gergen, Joshua T. Bledsoe, David E. Pettit and Tara L. Rice

President Obama recently announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Program Office (LPO) is expanding support for innovative “distributed energy projects” by adding $1 billion in available loan guarantees to support the deployment of these projects through the existing solicitations for Renewable Energy and Efficient Energy Projects and Advanced Fossil Energy Projects.  Eligible projects could include energy storage, smart grid technologies, cogeneration and methane capture for oil and natural gas wells, as well as roof-top solar and energy efficiency technologies that meet certain “innovation” requirements. For example, roof-top solar projects that are combined with storage may be eligible.

The LPO also is targeting distributed energy developers with special supplements to these two pending solicitations that make clear that existing program authority under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and resources may be used to accelerate the deployment of distributed energy projects. The credit enhancement available through DOE’s LPO traditionally has been used to support utility-scale energy projects. In recognition of the important role of distributed energy in the future of US energy markets, the LPO is making a concerted effort to marshal program resources to support innovation in this growing segment.

By Marc Campopiano, Joshua Bledsoe, Jennifer Roy, James Erselius

Phase I of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (“DRECP”) is underway on the 9.8 million acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). As discussed in our previous post, the four lead agencies responsible for the plan introduced a phased approach to implementing the DRECP in March 2015 in response to public comments. Under Phase I of this approach, between 81,000 and

By Jennifer Roy, Marc Campopiano and Joshua T. Bledsoe

On September 23, 2014, the California Energy Commission (“CEC”), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (“CDFW”), US Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”), and US Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) released the Draft Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS”) for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (“DRECP”).  The DRECP would create a framework to streamline permitting for up to 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects on more than 22 million acres in the California Mojave and Colorado/Sonoran desert region.

By Marc Campopiano and Tim Henderson

On March 11, 2013, the California Energy Commission (CEC) released a proposed Seventh Edition of the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Eligibility Guidebook (proposed Guidebook).  As we discussed in a previous blog entry, on March 28, 2012, the CEC suspended the RPS eligibility of power plants generating electricity using biomethane. 

In response to the passage of AB 2196, which created a pathway for using biomethane to generate RPS-eligible electricity, the proposed Guidebook would lift

By Joshua T. Bledsoe, Tim B. Henderson, and Jared W. Johnson

Seeking to quell uncertainty surrounding the definition of resource shuffling ahead of the first cap-and-trade auction on November 14, 2012, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) passed a Resolution on October 18, 2012, requiring the Executive Officer to redefine resource shuffling and provide concrete examples.  CARB’s Resolution requires CARB Staff to issue proposed regulatory amendments by mid-2013 and release regulatory guidance consistent with the Resolution before the

By Marc T. Campopiano and Tim B. Henderson

On August 9, 2012, the California Energy Commission (CEC) adopted a revised Sixth Edition of the Renewables Portfolio Standard Eligibility Guidebook (RPS Guidebook) to clarify changes to the RPS Guidebook Fifth Edition, which was recently adopted on May 9, 2012, as described in our prior blog discussion.  Highlights of the changes include the following:

  • The CEC clarified additional RPS requirements for generating facilities with a first point of interconnection to the

By Joshua T. Bledsoe, Tim B. Henderson, and Jared W. Johnson

With the first auction in California’s cap and trade program fast-approaching on November 14, 2012, the California Air Resources Board (“ARB”) recently suspended a much-discussed aspect of the program that requires first deliverers of electricity to attest that they have not engaged in “resource shuffling.”  Resource shuffling involves a seller of energy into California modifying its portfolio of sales so that lower or no-emission electricity is

By Janice Schneider, Laura A. Godfrey, Buck Endemann and Taiga Takahashi

Earlier this year, the Navy, Army, and Air Force committed to deploy three gigawatts total of renewable energy on service installations by 2025. In late July, the Department of the Interior (“DOI”) and the Department of Defense (“DOD”) took the first steps to implement this policy by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) aimed to facilitate the federal government’s goals of increasing renewable energy generation from

By Marc Campopiano and Tim Henderson

On May 9, 2012, the California Energy Commission (CEC) adopted a revised Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Eligibility Guidebook.  The update implements several key modifications to the RPS eligibility criteria, including but not limited to:

  •  Incorporating changes required by Senate Bill X1-2, which raised the RPS to 33 percent by 2020.  Signed by Governor Brown on April 12, 2011, Senate Bill X1-2 made other significant revisions to the RPS, including covering publicly-owned utilities

By Michael Feeley and Aron Potash

A lawsuit which delayed and once threatened to dismantle California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) cap and trade scheme was largely resolved last week, removing one roadblock to California’s plan to be the first state to impose an economy-wide GHG trading program.  Under modified regulations adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on October 20, 2011, California will require certain emitters of GHGs to obtain allowances or offsets in amounts commensurate to their respective emissions