Issue Briefs - 2012 Overview
Policy Briefs are also available in PDF format below.
Expanding Market Access
1A Third Party Power Purchase Agreements (PPA's)
1B Voluntary Renewable Energy Credits Markets
Economics of Renewable Energy
2A The Renewable Energy Incentives Puzzle
Regulatory Environment of Renewable Energy
3A Wind Siting
Towards Community Energy
4B RPS standards for compliance RECs
4B RPS standards for compliance RECs
Economics of Renewable Energy:
Press for Advanced Renewable Tariffs
Renewables DG Rates for WI IOUs
PROBLEM: Worldwide, Feed-in
Tariffs (FITs) are widely credited for expanding distributed renewable
energy development to a greater extent than other tax or financial
incentives. FITs, known in Wisconsin as Advanced Renewable Tariffs (ARTs),
have been approved in the last few years by the Public Service Commission of
Wisconsin (PSCW) and have been implemented by electric providers as part of
their renewable energy acquisition strategies. Apart from net energy
billing, the use of ARTs has also been a major income driver for many
customer-sited distributed renewable projects in Wisconsin. They are used
to level the economic playing field for projects over the 20 kilowatt
net-energy-billing limit, but have not been applicable for projects over
five megawatts. Current ARTs have subscription limits that are based on a
specific generation capacity or a percentage of an electric provider’s
retail generation. Many of the ARTs used by Wisconsin electric providers
have already reached their subscription limits without any plans on
extending them. Specific policies have not been put in place to
incrementally ratchet up these subscription limits to maintain growth of
customer-sited distributed generation.
POLICY NEED: In the short-term (1-3 years), the subscription
ceilings for voluntary ARTs should be expanded with a mechanism that
encourages periodic increases. The expansion of tariff subscription
limits should be made with cautious consideration of the accompanying retail
electric rate effects. The electric providers should be engaged in
discussions to expand ART offerings, following the example of Xcel Energy
in its 2011 rate case. In the longer-term, legislation should be
crafted to make ART subscription limits a mandated “carve out” of an
expanded Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
BENEFICIARIES:
Residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial energy customers,
nonprofit energy users, municipalities, farmers, local installers and
contractors.
PROGNOSIS: Pressing for expanded voluntary ART offerings may
find traction in rate cases before the PSCW if retail electric rate impacts
are relatively minimal. The ARTs filed in Xcel Energy’s 2011 rate case
could be used as a precedent for expanded tariff offerings at other electric
providers. The 2012 legislative climate will not be very conducive to
passing laws mandating an ART “carve out” in an expanded RPS.
COMPLICATING ISSUES: Mandatory ARTs was one of the
most contentious portions of the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) - brought
before the Legislature in early 2010. CEJA failed when it was not brought
to a vote in the full Legislature.
LINKS:
More background on Advanced Renewable Tariffs on RENEW's website.
Renewables DG Rates for WI Electric Investor Owned Utilities, Updated Jan. 3, 2012
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