Pennsylvania Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard

Pennylvania's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard: Getting Pennsylvania to a Sustainable Energy Future

From the Goddard Chair:

Historically, Pennsylvania has been a leader in energy production. It was the site of the nation's first oil well. Its coal fields fueled the industrial revolution. It remains a major producer and exporter of coal and electricity and continues to produce oil and gas. The Commonwealth's historic energy production, however, relied upon non-renewable resources and came at the cost of pollution of water, air and land caused by non-sustainable practices. With the enactment of the Pennsylvania Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, the Commonwealth reasserted its leadership role, this time through the creation of a vision for achieving a more sustainable energy future.

A renewable portfolio standard ("RPS") specifies a percentage of energy that must be provided by certain renewable energy sources. The Commonwealth followed a growing number of states that have established an RPS. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have established and RPS.

Pennsylvania's law, which establishes an "alternative energy portfolio standard" is unique in several respects. Like the other states, it has established an RPS that requires that suppliers and distributors of electricity provide a certain percentage of electricity generated with renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and low impact hydroelectric. Pennsylvania's 8% standard for its RPS is ambitious and includes a minimum requirement for solar that is particularly ambitious. Pennsylvania is the first in the nation to include energy conservation in its alternative energy standard. Pennsylvania also recognized that use of waste and waste coal to generate energy can achieve muliple environmental goals. Finally, it recognized that meeting our energy needs will require more effiicient use of fossil fuels in the short run and use of traditional renewable resources, such as large scale hydroelectric, and includes those sources in its standard.

Pennsylvania integrated its RPS into its use of market-based mechanisms for supply of electric generation. It therefore explicitly authorized trading of renewable energy credits. This legally recognized trading regime will work with a voluntary regime already in place.

Regulations have now been promulgated for Pennsylvania's experiment. The 2006 Goddard Forum explored the legal, institutional, financial, and technical challenges that will be faced in implementing this program and examined next steps in bringing Pennsylvania and the nation to a sustainable energy future.

Forum Presentations - Day One

Panel 1 - Implementing the Pennsylvania Renewable Portfolio Standard: The New Regulations, Issues, and Challenges