Background Image
Previous Page  26 / 48 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 26 / 48 Next Page
Page Background

PCCA Journal|1

st

Quarter 2015

26

1PXFS /FXT

Continued from page 25

holders would be a top priority during

this rulemaking process, so it is time

to turn that rhetoric into action and go

back to the drawing board,” Harbert

said. “These issues are too serious and

too abundant to be ignored.”

Among the other common areas of con-

cern for states identified in the analysis

are technological achievability, mistakes

and errors, interim compliance targets,

lack of credit for early action, treatment

of nuclear generation, lack of consider-

ation for stranded costs, goals in com-

parison to new power plant rules, and

estimates of plant generation capacity.

The complete guide—In Their Own

Words: A Guide to States’ Concerns

Regarding the Environmental Protection

Agency’s Proposed Greenhouse Gas Regu-

lations for Existing Power Plants—includ-

ing appendices, can be viewed at www.

energyxxi.org/eparule-stateanalysis.

The mission of the U.S. Chamber of

Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century

Energy is to unify policymakers, regula-

tors, business leaders, and the American

public behind a common sense energy

strategy to help keep America secure,

prosperous, and clean. Through policy

development, education, and advocacy,

the institute is building support for

meaningful action at the local, state,

national, and international levels.

Ameren Offers Constructive

Alternatives to EPA’s Clean Power Plan

A

white paper issued by Ameren

Corporation says that construc-

tive and common-sense altera-

tions to the Environmental Protection

Agency’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) are

needed to avoid imposing staggering

costs on utility customers and significant

risks to electric grid reliability.

Ameren’s approach would achieve

the same final CO2 emission reduction

goals as EPA’s own plan while saving $4

billion in costs and avoiding grid reli-

ability problems related to the premature

closure of key coal-fired power plants.

Ameren’s GHG strategy proposes

pragmatic changes to the EPA plan that

include removing the plan’s interim

targets that begin in 2020, enhancing

interim reporting requirements by the

states to ensure that progress is be-

ing made to achieve the 2030 target,

allowing full credit for the retirement of

coal-fired power plants, and allowing

for a reasonable extension of the 2030

deadline if utilities are making substan-

tive progress toward achieving the EPA’s

final greenhouse gas (GHG) goals.

Ameren’s modifications to the EPA

plan would facilitate cost-effective

compliance not only by Ameren, but by

utilities around the country faced with

complying with the agency’s proposal.

Based on carefully calibrated projections

of long-term regional supply-and-de-

mand dynamics, Ameren’s GHG strategy

relies on a diverse mix of coal, nuclear,

natural gas, and renewable energy

resources, as well as the continuation of

robust energy-efficiency programs.

New DOE Report Shows Solar

Growth Spurred by Loan Program

I

n a new report, the Department of Energy (DOE) has

highlighted the success of the Loan Programs Office’s

solar projects, saying that since it financed its first five

utility-scale projects in 2011, 17 additional projects have

come on line without the use of loan guarantees. The report

coincides with the dedication ceremony of Desert Sunlight, a

550-megawatt (MW) solar project in Riverside County, Calif.

“Without question, the Energy Department’s Loan Program

Office has helped to grow the U.S. solar industry, jump-

starting the widespread development of utility-scale solar,”

said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy

Industries Association. “Desert Sunlight is yet another great

success story, and completion of this project put us on course

for another record-shattering year. Today, the solar industry

employs nearly 175,000 Americans, pumps $15 billion a year

into our economy, and offsets more than 20 million metric

tons of damaging carbon emissions. In the past four years,

employment in the solar industry has increased by more

than 85 percent, and last year alone, we created one out of

every 78 new jobs in America. This remarkable progress is

due, in large part, to smart, effective public policies, such as

the highly successful loan guarantee program and the solar

Investment Tax Credit. With an estimated 20 gigawatts (GW)

of solar capacity currently installed in the United States and

another 20 GW in the pipeline for 2015-16, it’s clear that

clean, renewable solar energy will play a major role when it

comes to powering America’s future.”