2019 Maine energy legislation

The First Regular Session of the 129th Maine State Legislature adjourned on June 20, 2019, after having enacted 530 new public laws. Here's a look at some of the significant energy legislation enacted this year:

• An Act to Promote Clean Energy Jobs and To Establish the Maine Climate Council, P.L. 2019, c. 476: This bill establishes the Maine Climate Council to advise the Governor and state Legislature on ways to mitigate the causes of, prepare for and adapt to the consequences of climate change, and calls for the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt regulations requiring significant reductions in the state's overall greenhouse gas emissions.
• An Act To Reform Maine's Renewable Portfolio Standard, P.L. 2019, c. 477: This bill adds two new renewable portfolio standards, along with a procurement program. In addition to Maine's preexisting Class I and Class II RPS requirements, the new law adds a new Class IA requirement which increases from 2.5% of retail sales in 2020 to 40% in 2030. Class IA resources are basically the same resources that could qualify as Class I under existing law – “new” renewables installed or refurbished after September 1, 2005 – except Class IA excludes resources that satisfy the “newness” requirement by restarting after 2 years of downtime, even though these can qualify for Class I. Large customers may elect to opt out; retail sales to a customer who opts out are not subject to the Class IA mandate, in exchange for which the customer may not generate Class IA RECs. The bill also requires each competitive electricity provider to demonstrate to the Commission that it accounted for a defined percentage of its retail electricity sales in Maine with thermal renewable energy certificates or RECs, representing useful heat or thermal energy produced by certain technologies and delivered to an end-use customer for use. The thermal REC mandate increases from 0.4% in 2021 to 4% in 2030. Large customers may elect to opt out; retail sales to a customer who opts out are not subject to the thermal REC mandate, in exchange for which the customer may not generate thermal RECs. Finally, the law requires the Commission to conduct a series of solicitations to procure long-term contracts for an annual amount of energy or RECs from Class IA resources equal to 14% of Maine’s annual retail electricity sales. A first procurement round, for between 7% and 10% of Maine’s 2018 retail sales, must be concluded with contracts approved by December 31, 2020. A second round for the remaining amount needed to cover 14% of sales must be completed by December 31, 2020. 75% of the energy or RECs contracted must come from Class IA resources that began commercial operations after to June 30, 2019, and 25% from Class IA resources that started up on or prior to that date. In evaluating bids, benefits to ratepayers gets 70% weighting, and economic benefits get 30% weighting. Bids may include energy storage systems.
• <An Act To Promote Solar Energy Projects and Distributed Generation Resources in Maine, P.L. 2019, c. 478: This law expands the maximum size of a generating facility eligible for net energy metering, from 660 kilowatts to 5 megawatts. It also eliminates any limit on the number of customers in the territories served by investor-owned utility who may “share ownership” and net meter against a given project’s output. “Shared ownership” forms include facility ownership, a lease agreement or a power purchase agreement. A new variation on net energy billing provides additional value specifically for commercial and institutional (nonresidential) customers of an investor-owned utility, for whom demand charges may constitute a relatively high portion of the total electricity bill. For these customers, LD 1711 requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish by rule a voluntary tariff rate, which will provide a bill credit for any electricity delivered to the electric grid from a distributed generation resource, equal to the applicable standard offer service rate for that customer receiving the credit plus 75% of the effective transmission and distribution rate for the rate class that includes the smallest commercial customers of the investor-owned transmission and distribution utility. The credit is monetary and can be applied to any portion of the bill, including demand charges. A customer who enrolls may receive service under the tariff rate for at least 20 years. By allowing monetary crediting of facilities up to 5 megawatts against a customer’s total bill, including demand and customer charges, the newly enacted law encourages the development of larger solar or other net metered facilities, capable of generating sufficient bill credits at the specified tariff rate to offset some or all of the customer’s bill on a monetary basis. The law also requires the investor-owned utilities to serve as counterparties for long-term power purchase agreements with distributed generation resources.
• An Act to Establish a Green New Deal for Maine, P.L. 2019, c. 347: This law requires construction employers constructing a generation facility of 2 megawatts or more, other than a facility located on the customer side of an electric meter, to use a workforce that includes a defined percentage of apprentices. The law also requires that when a new school is constructed, Efficiency Maine Trust shall solicit bids for solar power purchase agreements, and award a power purchase agreement to the qualified bidder that offers the lowest price for the school to purchase the solar installation at the end of the term of the power purchase agreement. In such a case, the Commission shall direct the transmission and distribution utility serving the school to administer the power purchase agreement on behalf of the school in a manner, so far as possible, consistent with section 3210-C.