Bill Text: HI HB1107 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Renewable Energy; Clean Energy Standard

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-02-05 - The committee(s) on EEP recommend(s) that the measure be deferred. [HB1107 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HB1107-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1107
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to Clean ENergy Standards.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that changing Hawaii's renewable portfolio standard to a clean energy standard will enable Hawaii to achieve greater reductions in its electricity sector greenhouse gas emissions at a lower cost.

     Hawaii has embarked on an ambitious goal to promote renewable energy in the electricity sector in an effort to reduce Hawaii's dependence on oil and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.  However, Hawaii's chosen policy mechanism, the renewable portfolio standard, is less economically efficient than a clean energy standard and it does not differentiate between different types of renewable energy.  

     A clean energy standard that prioritizes electricity technologies based on lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions considers the total greenhouse gas emissions involved in producing and using energy and gives credit to technologies and fuels for electricity based on their total emissions.  For example, the clean energy standard considers all of the emissions involved in using oil for energy which include the energy of extracting, refining, transporting, and burning oil.  Similarly, the clean energy standard differentiates between responsibly sourced biofuel and biofuel produced on lands degraded for farming.

     A clean energy standard that prioritizes electricity technologies based on lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions is estimated to be up to ninety per cent more cost effective in achieving clean energy goals than the current renewable portfolio standard.  This is because a lifecycle green house gas emissions-weighted clean energy standard provides guidance over the whole suite of possible technologies and fuels and encourages generation efficiencies.  The clean energy standard also allows for partial credit for nonrenewable energies, scaled to the worst greenhouse gas emitter.

     To date, energy efficiency for electricity has only targeted demand-side efficiency through the renewable portfolio standard; the clean energy standard also promotes supply-side efficiency.  Under the clean energy standard, the level of credit varies with the efficiency of the production unit.  Therefore, an electric utility can increase the clean energy standard credit its oil-fired or biofuel units receive by improving the efficiency of the units.  This offers electricity generators more flexibility in compliance and thus reduces regulatory costs.

     A clean energy standard is a more effective policy mechanism to promote and deploy clean sources of electricity and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because it provides guidance on both renewable and fossil-based fuels.  Moreover, the clean energy standard is an emerging concept in United States energy policy.  In his 2011 state of the union address, President Obama called for generating eighty per cent of the country's electricity by clean sources by the year 2035.  Since then, although a number of bills promoting the use of clean energy standards have been introduced at the federal level, states, rather than the federal government, have led the way in United States energy policy.  This Act calls for Hawaii to again be a leader in clean energy in the United States by adopting a clean energy standard.  Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to change Hawaii's renewable portfolio standard to a clean energy standard in the years 2020 and beyond.  This will enable Hawaii to achieve greater reductions in its electricity sector greenhouse gas emissions at a lower cost.

     SECTION 2.  Section 269-91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new definition to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

     ""Clean energy standard" means an energy credit scale that provides renewable energy credits based upon lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for each type of energy source including non-renewable energy where the energy source emitting the most greenhouse gases is set at zero."

     SECTION 3.  Section 269-92, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:

     "(a)  Each electric utility company that sells electricity for consumption in the State shall establish a renewable portfolio standard of[:

     (1)  Ten] ten per cent of its net electricity sales by December 31, 2010; and

    [(2)  Fifteen] fifteen per cent of its net electricity sales by December 31, 2015[;].

     Effective January 1, 2020, in lieu of the renewable portfolio standard, each electric utility company that sells
electricity in the State shall establish a clean energy standard of

    [(3)  Twenty-five]            per cent of its net electricity sales by December 31, 2020; and

    [(4)  Forty]            per cent of its net electricity sales by December 31, 2030.

     (b)  The public utilities commission may establish standards for each utility that prescribe what portion of the renewable portfolio or the clean energy standards, as the case may be, shall be met by specific types of [renewable] energy [resources] sources based on their lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions; provided that:

     (1)  Prior to January 1, 2015, at least [fifty]            per cent of the renewable portfolio standards shall be met by electrical energy generated using renewable energy as the source, and after December 31, 2014, the entire renewable portfolio standard shall be met by electrical generation from renewable energy sources;

     (2)  Beginning January 1, 2015, electrical energy savings shall not count toward renewable energy portfolio standards[;] or clean energy standards, as the case may be;

     (3)  Where electrical energy is generated or displaced by a combination of renewable and nonrenewable means, the proportion attributable to the renewable means shall be credited as renewable energy; and

     (4)  Where fossil and renewable fuels are co-fired in the same generating unit, the unit shall be considered to generate renewable electrical energy (electricity) in direct proportion to the percentage of the total heat input value represented by the heat input value of the renewable fuels.

In its integrated resource planning, the electric utility shall meet the standards established by the public utilities commission, pursuant to this subsection."

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Renewable Energy; Clean Energy Standard

 

Description:

Amends Hawaii's renewable portfolio standard by changing the renewable energy portfolio standard to a clean energy standard to enable Hawaii to achieve greater reductions in its electricity sector greenhouse gas emissions at a lower cost. 

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.