Bill Opalka | Nov 22, 2010

Even renewable energy's back-up plan for federal support appears to be off the table.

The renewable electricity standard (RES) has been bandied about Capitol Hill for a decade. That includes wind, solar biomass and possibly hydro as a clean energy fuel source. Expanding the definition to include nuclear and possibly carbon capture turns that into a clean energy standard (CES).

The changeover in the U.S. House of Representatives from Republican to Democratic control will have numerous implications for renewable energy. The discussion was part of an election post-mortem webinar hosted by the law firm Chadbourne & Parke.

One of the speakers said the switch is a "net negative" for renewable energy. A common view was that energy incentives, mostly in the form of "tax extenders" for project development were as far as Congress was likely to go in the lame duck session in late November.
 
A consensus view, even one admitted by President Obama himself, is that carbon cap-and-trade is dead in the next Congress. But a modest RES similar to the one that passed a Senate committee - 15 percent by 2021 including energy efficiency - now appears to be without a future as well.

"I think the major impact of the elections would be to turn that RES into a CES, turning that renewable electricity standard into a clean electricity standard that would include nuclear, would include carbon capture and storage, which I think is more in keeping with Republican mantra of `more of all of the above'," said Jonathan Weisgall of MidAmerican Energy Holdings. "That of course changes things, because a federal RES has a goal of promoting renewables. A clean energy standard has a broader goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Weisgall thinks the CES could be part of a broader energy bill, which has been difficult for Congress to pass in recent years because of so many competing interests vying for one.
Richard Glick, of Iberdrola Renewable Energies USA, agreed that the change in the House leadership is the "death knell" for the RES.

It's time to deal with the new reality in Congress facing renewable energy, he said. "I think we need to broaden our minds in the renewable community and not be as doctrinaire as we've been in the past," Glick said. "If you broaden the definition you're going to have to increase the numbers we've been talking about," he added, perhaps in the 25 to 30 percent range.
The move to a CES is not without precedent. The idea was floated in Arizona this year but was shot down rather quickly without an overall percentage increase.

The industry had hoped that the RES could be considered in the lame duck session late in November, but the speakers said the session will be consumed by pressing matters that have to be dealt with by year's end: continued federal spending that would run out in early December; the Bush tax cuts; and extending unemployment benefits.

This story first appeared in RenewablesBiz and was written by its editor, Bill Opalca