NO CAROLINA CLOSER TO 1ST SOUTHERN RPS

This is an important step forward for renewables in the south, favored by utilities and opposed by environmentalists. Politics is VERY weird.

North Carolina: Senate Panel Gives First OK to Renewables, Efficiency Bill
June 26, 2007 (AP via Yahoo Finance)

WHO
Sen. Charlie Albertson, D-Duplin, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee chairman and bill sponsor; Cari Boyce, spokeswoman, Progress Energy; Elizabeth Ouzts, director, Environment North Carolina.
North Carolina's renewable resources (click to enlarge)

WHAT
No. Carolina legislators are moving toward making the state the first in the generally conservative south legally institute a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), a requirement that the state’s utilities obtain 12.5% of electricity from renewable energy or efficiency measures.

WHEN
- The % requirements would be for 2021.
- Committee vote June 26.
- Senate Finance Committee scrutiny and full chamber vote upcoming.

WHERE
No. Carolina Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, No. Carolina state capital of Raleigh.

WHY
- The 12.5% by 2021 applies to public utilities. Electric co-ops and municipal power companies must reach 10%.
- Senate Finance Committee and full chamber approval required for the bill to become law.
- The measure was crafted through more than a dozen stakeholder meetings that won backing from the state’s utilities. The same process resulted in opposition by some environmental groups for a provision allowing utilities to pass costs of coal and nuclear power plant construction on to customers during construction and that may cause problems in the legislative process.
North Carolina wind resources (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Boyce, Progress Energy: “We believe this bill is so good because it is a comprehensive policy…"
- Ouzts, Environment America: “The House may prove less friendly to [the provision passing new plant construction on to customers], and opponents will push for its removal when the measure gets to that chamber…”