For those who have been tracking the Oregon Public Utility Commission’s In re Honeywell proceeding, Stephen Hall and Pat Boylston have just released a Stoel Rives Energy Law Alert explaining the significance of the decision for third party "on site" solar and wind generation and net metering.
Gail Kinsey Hill reported on the decision and
Coming on the heels of the Oregon PUC’s decision in the Honeywell case (see Steve Hall’s blog below), scientists at MIT announced today that they had discovered a cheap way to separate oxygen from hydrogen using techniques learned from studying plant photosynthesis. Once separated, the hydrogen and oxygen can be used to power a fuel
Stoel Rives has now published seven original Law of books covering various topics in the renewable energy industry. To write these books, our attorney-authors draw on over 20 years of legal and business experience in wind, geothermal, biofuels, and other renewable energy resources. The books are intended to provide a succinct but thorough overview of industry segments
Now for some good news. Today the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) issued an important decision giving a green light to companies seeking to own and operate solar and wind-powered distributed generation facilities. Third-party ownership of renewable distributed generation—especially solar—has really taken off in the past few years because it allows a utility customer to enjoy the benefits of on-site renewable energy, but pay the facility owner only for the electricity generated by the facility.
Continue Reading Oregon Public Utility Commission Gives Green Light to Third-party Ownership Model for Distributed Generation
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson granted himself a continuance last week to make his decision on whether to grant Texas Governor Rick Perry’s request for a waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). As an attorney accustomed to living with deadlines, I certainly appreciate the lure of being able to grant oneself a continuance. Like many others participating in the biofuels industry, however, it is somewhat frustrating to encounter yet another delay on the policy front.
To be fair, Administrator Johnson has his work cut out for him in resolving this issue. Advocates on both sides see potentially substantial impact from a decisive ruling on the waiver. The waiver provision has been described as a pressure relief valve for the RFS. The interesting thing about this pressure valve is that no one knows what pressure the valve will withstand before it releases. Oil industry advocates would prefer a “hair trigger” type pressure release valve whereas biofuel advocates would like to see a more robust fixture.
Governor Perry’s request has some unique attributes. He actually based his request not on the RFS causing difficulty for the petroleum industry- which would have been difficult since ethanol has typically been less costly than gasoline and in ample supply- but on food and livestock supply arguments. Governor Perry’s request also precedes the ramp up period in the RFS when the real challenges will likely begin and thus his request could be viewed as an early attempt to hobble the RFS.
Let us hope that cooler heads prevail. Given the tremendous energy security and cost issues presently caused by our fossil fuel dependence, now is not the time for the EPA to start buckling on the RFS. As noted by the NBB’s CEO, Joe Jobe, "If the RFS is waived or cut in half in 2008, then the growth of all biofuels, including ‘advanced biofuels’ such as biodiesel, will be severely hindered." As Jobe and others have noted, these advanced biofuels may hold the real key to relieving the pressure on both fuel and food prices in the future. Continue Reading EPA Stalls Regarding RFS Waiver
On July 9, 2008, the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) issued proposed regulations for granting leases, easements and rights of way for alternative energy project activities and for alternative uses of existing facilities located on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). For those who are less than excited at the prospect of wading
The Oregonian ran an interesting front page article today (July 21, 2008) about the expected explosive growth of wind energy in the Pacific Northwest. The good news (or what should have been the good news) is that wind developers are planning to quadruple the amount of wind power in the region.
The Bonneville Power Administration’s recent transmission
Our renewable energy team here at Stoel Rives has been a big fan of purchasing green power for years–we were one of the first US law firms to purchase green tags to offset a portion of the firm’s electricity use.
In 2008, we kicked off an even more ambitious firmwide GO GREEN campaign that goes beyond buying green power.
A recent article by my partners Marc Wood and Jennifer Martin explores the transmission challenges faced by wind and other intermittent energy resources and then explains how transmission obstacles can be reduced by the effective use of dynamic scheduling, physical storage and exchange (shaping), or some combination of the two. The article urges FERC to initiate
Spurred by Ohio’s new renewable energy portfolio standard, Duke Energy Ohio is requesting proposals for renewable energy resources that would begin delivering energy in 2009-2012. Duke is interested both in PPAs and asset acquisitions, and the resources must be able to deliver energy to the MISO grid. Bids are due by August 8, 2008.
In Ohio, "renewable energy