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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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. … Continue Reading
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. … Continue Reading
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. … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
Clean energy projects have tremendous potential to create jobs and grow the economy and help the nation meet its energy needs in a more sustainable way, but regulatory and legal barriers to energy projects have substantially reduced job creation and economic growth while impeding efforts to bring new energy generation facilities on line, according to … Continue Reading
By David B. Amerikaner, Marc T. Campopiano, and David A. Goldberg In a legislative effort that could impose a significant new requirement on electric utilities that sell in California and have important ramifications on power producers, electrical infrastructure, and energy markets throughout western states, the California Senate voted on February 24, 2011 to approve Senate Bill … Continue Reading
On February 7, 2011, a bill was introduced in the California State Assembly aimed at expediting the siting and permitting of renewable energy projects in the state, with special emphasis on the San Joaquin Valley. Assembly Members V. Manuel Pérez, Steven Bradford and Nancy Skinner introduced Assembly Bill 13 (AB13), the Renewable Energy Siting Act, … Continue Reading
On September 7, 2010 Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the issuance of the first loan guarantee under the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP). The DOE issued the partial guarantee for a $98.5 million loan being made by John Hancock Financial Services to a subsidiary of the Nevada Geothermal Power Company (NGP) … Continue Reading