Greenwire: Connecticut may become the first state to lower the amount of electricity it mandates must come from renewable sources.
A bill that has passed through committee in the current legislative session, which is slated to end May 5, would cut the state’s renewable portfolio standard by nearly half.
Currently the state has an ambitious goal of obtaining a fifth of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. When Connecticut first crafted the goal a few years ago, it became the leader in the renewable energy push, though Colorado and California have since instituted their own 30 percent goals.
But supporters of the rollback initiative say meeting the goal has meant state utilities mostly purchase renewable energy from outside the state, since the region’s climate and lack of land make it a poor site for solar and wind installations. And a 2003 plan to construct a 150-megawatt project that would have included 13 plants that are mostly fuel cells and biomass has been stalled by a lack of financing.
Environmental groups are pushing back against the proposed legislation. “This would mark Connecticut as the only state in the nation moving backward,” said Christopher Phelps, program director for Environment Connecticut, an environmental advocacy group.
If a national renewable energy standard is approved by Congress — an idea that has been backed by Obama — it would put the state at a disadvantage, Phelps said. There is also a concern that a lowered renewable energy goal will lead to a drop in investments in renewable projects altogether.
The bill would funnel the money that utilities would have spent to achieve the standard and use it to fund no-interest loans for consumers to purchase renewable and energy-efficient products.
Thirty-one states have renewable portfolio standards (Jan Ellen Spiegel, New York Times, April 8). – DFM