May 25, 2011 - Maine declines to change renewables standard

The Maine Legislature's energy committee has just declined to change the state's ten year commitment to renewable power.

On Monday, I noted that Governor LePage's energy bill, LD 1570, proposed to freeze Maine's renewable portfolio standard.  His stated intent was to lower the cost of energy to consumers.

Further analysis suggested that the cost of the renewables law was far smaller than its economic benefits, and that deviating from the stable increase in renewable power would send a market signal to developers that they cannot count on revenue from Maine renewable energy credits.  Project developers, energy consumers, and environmentalists decried the proposal as "stepping over dollars to get to nickels".

This afternoon, the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology voted unanimously to pass a significantly pruned version of that bill.  If enacted, the revised LD 1570 would not deviate from Maine's annual 1% increase in the sourcing of renewable energy.  Rather, the bill calls for a study of the costs and benefits of Maine's renewable portfolio standard.