North Carolina renewable energy portfolio standard and its significance for NC forest landowners

I The North Carolina Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard And Its Significance for NC Forest Landowners On August 3rd 2007, the North Carolina General Assembly adopted a Renewable (energy) Portfolio Standard through passage of Senate Bill 3-2007. 1 Unlike Green Power programs such as NCGreenPower (www.ncgreenpower.org) that use voluntary donations by utilities’ customers to make available renewable-based electricity, Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) require that a certain percentage of a utility's overall energy sales must be derived from renewable resources. Portfolio Standards most commonly refer to electric sales measured in megawatt- hours (MWh), as opposed to electric capacity measured in megawatts (MW). RPS provisions vary by state. North Carolina and Texas are the first two states in the Southeast to enact RPS legislation. Why a Renewable Portfolio Standard? The decline in fossil fuel availability and the rising costs of extraction and transportation, combined with increasing demand in industrializing countries, as well as concerns about global climate change are all contributing to increased interest in renewable energy in the U.S. Coal accounts for about three fifths of the electricity generation in North Carolina. Mercury, sulfur, and nitrogen compounds released into the atmosphere from coal combustion have come under fire in the region and world. Displacement of coal through an RPS could reduce each of these concerns by using a state-based “home-grown” fuel. Key economic and social benefits of an RPS result from having NC supply its own needs, potentially keeping millions of dollars in state that can have multiplying effects throughout local communities. NC Woody Biomass "Nature’s renewable energy!” http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fore stry /biomass.html Extension Forestry Campus Box 8008 NC State University Raleigh, NC 27695-8008 Slate Umvorsiiy A&I State University COOPERATIVE EXTENSION Empowering People • Providing Solution Key NC RPS Provisions The North Carolina RPS is a complex piece of legislation that spells out provisions for use of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency measures and energy demand reductions. The legislation requires all investor-owned utilities in the state to displace 12.5% of 2020 retail electricity sales, with a minimum of 7.5% renewables-based in state generation and 5% or more in energy efficiency measures. Municipal utilities and electric cooperatives must meet a target of 10% renewables and energy efficiency by 201 8 under slightly different rules. The bill also provides for improved net metering, interconnection standards, and values the use of combined heat and power (CHP) technology.2 The key provisions of the bill are that by the year 2021 and thereafter 12.5% of 2020 North Carolina retail sales by public electric utilities must come from a combination of renewable energy-based generation and energy-saving measures.