For the next week on Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats will tussle over whether or not to include a renewable electricity standard (RES) in legislation that may be put to vote in the Senate within the next week.
A renewable electricity standard would require utility companies to generate a set percentage of their yearly electricity from renewable sources, such as wind or solar, by a certain date. States like California have already implemented renewable electricity standards — which are also sometimes called renewable portfolio standards. But the idea of a national RES is a bit more complicated — has created tension primarily in the southeastern United States, where lawmakers are fearful that their states would be heavily penalized for not generating enough renewable power. States in the Southeast are relatively more reliant on coal and other non-renewable sources of electricity than the rest of the country.
At the moment, an RES is not a part of the bill; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says it’s unlikely an RES provision could receive the 60 senate votes needed to prevent a filibuster. But several Senate Democrats are pressuring Reid to include an RES in the bill, arguing that such a move is necessary to reduce regulatory uncertainty for clean energy companies. A coalition of green companies and Democratic senators recently wrote Senator Reid a letter urging him to include an RES in the bill. Not doing so, they claim, would result in the permanent loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the clean energy sector to other countries.
While there may even be a glimmer of bipartisanship, with Kansas Senator Sam Brownback supporting the inclusion of an RES, it seems unlikely the RES provision will gain broader support among Republicans, many of whom view it as an ”energy tax.” Since Democrats currently hold 57 of the 100 Senate seats — three votes short of a filibuster-proof majority — passing an RES would require an abundance of effort and cooperation.
An alternate option would be to implement an energy efficiency standard (EES), which would require utilities to boost electricity savings within their service territories. This idea received backing from a group of corporations after Reid’s original bill was shot down last week. Among U.S. states that already have an EES in place is Texas, where the measure has helped produce noteworthy reductions in electricity demand.
Whether it’s an RES or an EES that’s included in the final bill is anyone’s guess. In the absence of comprehensive energy legislation, we here at GetSolar would love to see both standards incorporated. But, given the logjams for which Washington is presently renowned, we’re shrewd enough to know it’s equally possible that neither provision will be passed.
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