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In the first of a two-part series we will explore the challenges and opportunities posed by the renewable energy sector in 2010. Part 1 addresses a range of federal public policy initiatives that target renewable energy.

Renewable Energy in 2010, Part 1:

Federal Initiatives that Target Renewable Energy

Thursday, February 18, 2010

1:00 pm eastern; 90 minutes
 
In 2009, the federal government committed billions in potential grants and tax incentives for renewable energy projects, yet each incentive program carries with it a unique mix of costs and benefits.  At the same time, Congress, the agencies, and the courts are tackling environmental matters in a way that could impose major new costs on emitting greenhouse gasses, placing a premium on the renewable generation of electricity.  Finally, because many renewable resources are located far from consumers, the surge in renewable generation is posing a major challenge for the U.S. electric transmission system.  So far, progress has been slow, and without new planning, siting, and cost-allocation systems, the limits of today’s transmission system could delay future renewable energy projects. 

Program Faculty

Kenneth B. Driver (Moderator), Partner, Jones Day, Washington, DC

Robert Brubaker, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, Columbus, OH

Jonathan B. Wilson, Taylor English Duma LLP, Atlanta, GA

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Renewable Energy in Scotland

A report from the Scottish National Heritage organization claims that Scotland is on target to exceeds its renewable energy goals and could achieve 300% of its goals by 2020 if pending programs are approved.  The report claims that 2,834 MW of renewable power is operational and another 3,739 MW of power has been approved with another 19,500 MW in the planning stages.  The combined output is more than three times the 8 GW need to meet Scotland’s 2020 target of 50% of electricity from renewables. 

Utilities Building Long Distance Transmission Lines

The California PUC gave its final approval for Southern California Edison to construct the last 173 miles of its 250-mile Tehachapi transmission project in Kern County.  The line is expected to transmit as much as 4,500 megawatts of electricity produced from wind, enough power for nearly 3 million homes.

The capital cost of high-capacity long distance transmission is often seen as a barrier to the development of renewable energy production because the cost can be so high and the time to delivery can take years.

In a related development, LS Power announced that it would build the LaSalle Transmission Project (“LaSalle”), a new 345 kilovolt (kV) transmission project connecting Illinois and Indiana. The project is intended to facilitate renewable energy development within the region.

LaSalle is expected to be an approximately 160-mile transmission line to connect three existing 345-kV substations operated by the PJM Regional Transmission Operator. These three substations are the Pontiac-Midpoint substation near Pontiac, Illinois; the Reynolds substation near Reynolds, Indiana; and the Dumont substation near North Liberty, Indiana. New substations may also be constructed along the transmission line to serve as points where additional wind could interconnect to the transmission system.

“LaSalle will be routed through some of the most promising areas in Illinois and Indiana for wind development – areas that currently have limited access to the high-voltage transmission system,” stated Sharon K. Segner, Director – Project Development with LS Power. “LaSalle will provide both a means for wind generation to connect to the transmission system and an outlet for the wind generation to be delivered to load.”

The project is being developed by Central Transmission, LLC, a new transmission company and member of the LS Power Group. The LS Power Group has active transmission development across the country representing over 1,000 miles of transmission planned to help deliver renewable resources to load. This includes Great Basin Transmission, a new transmission company in Idaho and Nevada developing a “shovel ready” 500+ mile 500-kV transmission line; and Cross Texas Transmission, a new transmission company in Texas developing over 200 miles of double circuit 345 kV as part of the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone Transmission Plan.

Renewable Energy Committee Studies State Incentives

The Renewable Energy Committee of the American Bar Association’s Public Utility Section is conducting a study of state-level incentives for renewable energy.  The Committee’s Fall 2009 Report outlined the key federal incentives and for its Spring 2010 Report the Committee will dig deeper into the incentives available at the state level.  Created by the Public Utility Section in 2009, the Renewable Energy Committee has nearly 100 members and brings together legal practicioners to study developments in the sector.

New Landfill Methane Plant in North Carolina

Methane Power announced the opening of a new landfill gas-to-energy plant in Durham, NC, the state’s fourth largest city.  Electricity generated by the Durham landfill energy plant is being sold to Duke Energy Carolinas under a power purchase agreement.

Methane Power Inc., the project developer, said the energy plant is powered by three of GE’s containerized JGC 320 Jenbacher landfill gas engines. GE’s Jenbacher landfill gas engines are generating 3.17 megawatts of renewable electricity for the regional grid by using the landfill’s methane gas, which is created by the decomposition of municipal solid waste. The facility is generating enough energy to support about 1,800 North Carolina homes.

North Carolina is one of 27 states with a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires utilities to produce a certain percentage of electricity from renewable sources, including biogas. North Carolina’s RPS requires that by 2021, utilities must meet 12.5 percent of customers’ energy needs through energy efficiency savings or renewable energy production.

Copenhagen’s Effect on Renewable Energy

Will the recently-announced climate change deal at Copenhagen have an effect on the market for renewable power?  The popular investing blog, SeekingAlpha, things so.  SeekingAlpha writes:

“The result from Copenhagen boosted the renewable energy outlook; India’s Suzlon sees wind turbines shortfall in 2010 and in the coming years. The $53B wind turbine market means the current global capacity cannot meet the demand.”

“The wind energy market is heating up in China as well. Ealier this year General Electric set a joint venture with A-Power Energy Generation with an annual 2GW capacity in 2010. According to the CEO, GE sees China as leading the green energy trend already, and this will continue if the U.S. does not come up with a green energy policy. A-Power Energy Generation announced Wednesday that the company has signed a definitive agreement with US-REG and Cielo wind for a Texas 600MW wind farm project. ”

“Before this announcement, some investors were still skeptical. What makes this project golden is that A-Power has agreed to deliver wind turbines beginning in March 2010. In other words, revenue on wind turbines will starts to flow in Q1 of 2010. Of course, the company has already realized revenue from Chinese wind farms in Q4 2009, however this marks the first revenue in-flow from a Mega wind farm project that A-Power has signed. The company has many huge alternative energy projects from various countries and is ramping up its turbine projects quickly through a Joint venture with General Electric.”

On the other hand, most environmental activists have viewed Copenhagen as a bust, so any boost for renewables is likely less than would have been the result if world leaders had adopted a wider-reaching or more robust agreement. 

In that same vein, on the first tradng day after the Copenhagen announcement, the price of carbon trading permits in Europe fell, reflecting the decreased likelihood of restrictions on carbon emissions.  Bloomberg reported that the “nations attending the two-week Copenhagen summit that ended at the weekend agreed to voluntary, rather than binding, targets to reduce emissions. The accord isn’t enough to boost demand for permits, said Trevor Sikorski, an emissions analyst at Barclays Capital in London.”

$600 Million for Biofuels

U.S. DOE Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week announced the selection of 19 biorefinery projects to receive up to $564 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to accelerate the construction and operation of pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale facilities. The projects – in 15 states - should validate refining technologies and help lay the foundation for full commercial-scale development of a biomass industry in the United States. The projects should produce advanced biofuels, biopower, and bioproducts using biomass feedstocks at the pilot, demonstration, and full commercial scale.

Our friends at Biofuels Digest published a lengthy analysis of the awards and the process followed by the DOE.  It makes for interesting reading.  According to the analysis, the DOE published a Funding Opportunity Announcement in May of 2009.  After submitting lengthy written applications, there was a first cut and those who survived were invited to participate in a “GoToMeeting.com” online chat and presentation session.  DOE participants were never identified in the process, and never spoke directly on the conference call, but submitted questions online as they were identified as “Review #1″ and so on. 

As one successful recipient CEO was quoted to say, “what you win is the right to negotiate.”  Winning companies will now be able to negotiate the terms of their grants for a period of several months with the hopes of actually receiving cash in mid-2010.  While the ARRA intended for funds to get put to use in 2009, in this instance it wil have taken more like 1.5 years for the cash to actually be put to use.

EPA Issues GHG Endangerment Finding

Coming on the heels of the ClimateGate scandal, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson last week finalized the EPA’s GHG endangerment finding, ruling that greenhouse gas emissions are an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act and are a threat to public health.   The endangerment finding is an outgrowth of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in EPA v. Massachusetts in which the Supreme Court held that the EPA’s authority to regulate air pollutants under the Clean Air Act extended to greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe suggested that the EPA would use the endangerment finding as a means of accomplishing through administrative ruling what it could not accomplish through legislation.  He reasoned that climate change legislation (whether in the form of the Waxman Markey bill or some other form) was unlikely to pass Congress during 2009 and that the Obama administration needed the legal support provided by the endangerment finding in order to make commitments at the Copenhagen talks on climate change.

EPA Delays Decision on E15 Waiver

On Dec. 1 the U.S. EPA announced that it will not make a final determination of the E15 fuel waiver until mid-2010. In March 2009, Growth Energy submitted a waiver to allow for the use of up to 15 percent ethanol in gasoline. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA was required to respond to the waiver request by Dec. 1, 2009.

The EPA has been working to evaluate the waiver request and has received a broad range of public comments as part of the administrative rulemaking process. In a letter sent to Growth Energy on Dec. 1, the agency said that to-date testing has indicated that the engines of newer cars will likely be able to handle ethanol blends higher than the current 10 percent limit. However, the agency will delay making a final decision on the fuel waiver until more testing data is available. On a positive note, the EPA also announced that it has begun the process to craft the labeling requirements that will be necessary if the blending limit is raised.

“As we are evaluating [the] E15 fuel waiver petition, we want to make sure we have all necessary science to make the right decision,” said the EPA in a letter addressed to Growth Energy Co-Chairmen Gen. Wesley Clark and Jeff Broin. “Although all the studies have not been completed, our engineering assessment to date indicates that the robust fuel, engine and emissions control systems on newer vehicles (likely 2001 and newer model years) will likely be able to accommodate higher ethanol blends, such as E15. However, we continue to evaluate the question of component durability when E15 is used over many thousands of miles and there is ongoing study being conducted by [the U.S. DOE] that will provide critical data on this issue.”

New DOE Loan Guarantee Rules

The DOE published its new rules for loan guarantee applications.  The new rules incorporate comments from industry participants and are intended to accelerate the loan guarantee process.   The new rules were effective December 4, 2009. 

American Bar Association Renewable Energy Committee

Our Renewable Energy Committee of the ABA’s Public Utility Section is meeting for the first time today on a conference call.  We’ll be charting a course for the coming year and planning some webinars and other projects.  Membership on the Committee is free to members of both the ABA and the Public Utility Section.  Check with the ABA website for more details.

Wilson, a corporate attorney with the Atlanta firm of Taylor English Duma LLP, will lead the group, which seeks to improve research and scholarship in solar, wind and other natural resources and to make programs available to benefit the legal profession and U.S. public.

Wilson is a 15-year member of the ABA’s Public Utility Section, which focuses on the communications and energy industries. He also founded the section’s Internet Industry Committee in 1996.

As a founding chair of the Renewable Energy Committee, he plans to recruit at least 100 members by spring 2010, hold regular Web-based seminars on renewable energy and build a nationwide database of state-level renewable incentives.

“Everybody recognizes the value of energy independence and renewable energy,” Wilson said, in a news release. “But the questions are: How big a role should renewables play? How should the government be involved? How can companies take advantage of incentives? We’ll be addressing these crucial questions and more in the Renewable Energy Committee.”

For more information about the Renewable Energy Committee including instructions for joining, please visit this site.