PCCA Journal|1
st
Quarter 2015
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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.”