Thursday, September 23, 2010

Senators talk about Clean energy standard



By Tennille Tracy, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Several influential U.S. senators are introducing a bill to require power plants to generate 15% of their electricity from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power, by the year 2021.

Introduced by Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D., N.M.) and Sam Brownback (R, Kan.) among others, the bill would require power plants to generate 3% of their electricity from renewable resources in 2012 and ramp up their use of renewables until reaching 15% in 2021.

The bill also allows utilities to purchase renewable energy credits or to make alternative compliance payments--worth 2.1 cents per kilowatt hour--to meet the standards.

Power plants that sell less than 4 million megawatt hours would be exempt from the law.

Known as a renewable electricity standard, the requirements have been a source of debate for U.S. lawmakers for several months.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) decided to bypass a renewable standard when pushing a broader energy this bill earlier this year, frustrating renewable energy supporters by saying he wanted to scrap controversial proposals in an effort to pass the measure more quickly.

After the bill failed to gain enough traction, Reid then said he would be willing to include the renewable standard in a future piece of energy legislation that could surface later this year.

Reid said he thought he could recruit at least two Republican votes for a broader energy bill by incorporating renewable electricity standards.

This most recent bill from Bingaman and Brownback--along with Sens. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.), Tom Udall (D, N.M.), Mark Udall (D., Colo.) and Susan Collins (R., Maine)--marks an attempt to move the renewable energy standard as a stand- alone bill.



Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201009211439dowjonesdjonline000304&title=ussenate-bill-would-make-utilities-use-15renewable-energy#ixzz10PT1DzsJ

No comments:

Post a Comment