RenewNewEngland.com

Maine Issues RFP for Efficiency and Conservation Grants

After months of anticipation, on Friday, Maine’s Energy and Carbon Savings Trust and Efficiency Maine announced two RFPs for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Projects.  Together, the RFPs offer over $15 million in funding for efficiency and conservation projects by businesses and municipalities.

Competitive Grants for Large Energy Efficiency and Conservation Projects

The first RFP offers grants for “large energy efficiency and conservation projects.”  These grants will be funded by a combination of approximately $6 million in ARRA funds administered by the MPUC and designated for “job creation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, weatherization, and workforce development” and $3 million in RGGI auction funds administered by the Energy and Carbon Savings Trust.  ARRA funds must be spent or committed within two years.

Pursuant to a competitive grant program, Efficiency Maine and the Trust are seeking applications for large energy efficiency and conservation projects with the primary goals of reducing kilowatt hour (kWh) consumption, encouraging alternative and renewable energy, and decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  Grant awards will range from $100,000 to $1 million and will be used to support eligible commercial and industrial projects that will save or create jobs, achieve energy savings and GHG reductions, and are “project-ready.”  Applications for eligible projects that accomplish these goals will be evaluated on the criteria of cost effectiveness, management and resource adequacy and readiness, and economic impact.

To be eligible, projects must be at a single commercial or industrial location and at least 30 percent of the total project cost must come from private funding, including financing.  Examples of eligible projects include energy improvements for industrial and commercial processes and equipment; compressed air systems; boilers and steam systems including biomass fired; combined heat and power systems in various settings; waste-heat recovery; and solar and wind systems.  Ineligible projects include those mandated by law or required by standard industry practice, feasibility studies and projects where funds will be used at multiple locations.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants

The second RFP offers more than $5.7 million in grants for Municipal and County energy efficiency and conservation projects, including renewable energy projects, from units of local and county government.  This program is funded by the ARRA’s Federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program.  Maine’s ten largest cities received formula grants earlier this year (see our earlier post).  Now, Maine’s remaining communities and counties may obtain support for energy use planning, action-ready projects that previously could not be funded, and/or the initial stages of projects promising long-term energy savings and emissions reductions.  This opportunity consists of two alternatives, one for “Custom Projects” and another for standardized or “Template” projects.  Custom project grants, which assist communities to bring planned projects to realization, may be up to $85,000 each (or up to $500,000 regionally) and are awarded on a competitive basis; template project grants, which assist communities with planning and/or energy use analysis, may be up to $10,000, as funds allow.  Efficiency Maine expects that a second round of these RFPs will be issued in early 2010.

Proposals for both RFPs must be submitted by 2:00 pm on November 4, 2009.

If you would like more information about the program, please contact John Gulliver, Bill Hewitt or Patty Aho. 

Energy Bar Association Panel: Renewable Energy in Europe and the US

On Tuesday, September 29, 2009, Pierce Atwood’s Julia Weller will be serving as moderator of a panel discussion on recent renewable energy legislative and policy developments in Europe and the US.  The panel, hosted by the International Energy Law & Transaction Committee of the Energy Bar Association, will take place in Washington DC from 12-1:30 (eastern) and will be teleconferenced.

To register to attend in person or participate by phone, please contact the EBA. 

Connecticut v. EPA: Public Nuisance Holding May Spur Federal Legislation

On September 21, 2009, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision reversing the dismissal of a public nuisance claim brought by eight states, New York City and three land trusts against six power companies.  The decision, Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., which reversed the district court’s finding that the claims constituted “non-justiciable political questions,” has significant implications for a wide range of businesses, and may provide some incentive to move forward with clear, federal regulation of carbon emissions.  

In the case, the plaintiffs are seeking the abatement of the defendants’ “ongoing contributions to the public nuisance of global warming” by emitting carbon dioxide.  Concluding that deciding the case would require the “identification and balancing of economic, environmental, foreign policy and national security interests,” a job properly left to the legislative and executive branches, the district court dismissed the case.  The Second Circuit, on the other hand, found that “well-settled principles of tort and public nuisance law provide appropriate guidance to the district court in assessing Plaintiff’s claims and the federal courts are competent to deal with these issues.”

The Second Circuit also held that the federal common law of public nuisance had not been “displaced” by federal legislation (the Clean Air Act) addressing carbon dioxide emissions.  While the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under Massachusetts v. EPA (pdf), the Second Circuit found that because the EPA’s proposed findings do not regulate those emissions in a way that “speaks directly” to Plaintiff’s claims, the federal common law of public nuisance may still apply.

Put together, these two Second Circuit findings - that carbon emissions issues may be justiciable and are not necessarily pre-empted by current federal legislation - indicate that, without a comprehensive set of regulations governing greenhouse emissions including carbon dioxide, emitters bear the risk of tort claims brought under the common law.  When viewed in that light, comprehensive regulation may hold new appeal to a wide array of business interests.  While conventional wisdom now holds that comprehensive cap-and-trade legislation won’t likely come to pass until 2010 or later, this Second Circuit decision may inspire some traditional foes of regulation to push for federal legislation sooner rather than later. 

DOE Funding Webinar

On Thursday, September 24th, from 1-5 PM eastern, the Department of Energy will host a webinar on DOE loan guarantees and other funding opportunities.  Speakers will include Under Secretary Kristina Johnson, Steve Spinner of DOE's Small Business Loan Guarantee Program, and representatives from almost 30 DOE Program and Field offices.  Matt Rogers, Senior Advisor for Recovery Act Implementation, will provide the keynote address.

Billed as a "Business Opportunity Session" (BOS), the webinar is intended to provide technical information for small businesses interested in doing business with DOE.  Under the Recovery Act, DOE was granted nearly $40 billion in recovery funds for financial assistance and contracting opportunities.  Opportunities are listed by here by state.  To participate in the webinar, register at DOE. 

New England Governors Release Renewable Energy Blueprint

On Tuesday, the New England Governors' Conference released its Renewable Energy Blueprint. The Blueprint is based in part on a draft study conducted by ISO New England at the Governors' request, the New England 2030 Power System Study (pdf),which explored a range of different renewable energy development scenarios for New England.  The Governors' Blueprint is intended to identify strategies to "help bring new renewable resources to market within the current market structure." To that end, it identifies three main opportunities for New England states:

1) Synchronize states' power procurement and contracts -  Each New England state has authority to procure renewable energy, capacity, energy and RECs, usually in the form of long term contracts with generators selected through a competitive solicitation process.  The blueprint reviews these laws, and proposes synchronizing these approaches to obtain the most cost-effective renewable resources.  This makes some sense: the wind developments needed to meet the domestic wind generation totals envisioned in the ISO-NE study (from 2,000 to 12,000 MW) dramatically exceed the scale of any single state's existing procurement program.  Given the costs and uncertainty involved, offshore wind in particular (the ISO-NE study considers as much as 4,500 MW of offshore wind) will rely on state-mandated long term contracts in the foreseeable future. But state procurement authority is typically tied to in-state development of renewables:  coordinated procurement would not address states' interests in fostering their own in-state renewable energy industries.

2) Coordinate siting of interstate transmission facilities - The Blueprint offers an overview of state transmission siting laws, and explores the possibility of coordinating these processes to facilitate building large interstate transmission lines.  Right now, there aren't any existing plans to build any such lines in New England (at least onshore: there are a number of proposals to link Maine and Massachusetts underwater), but the ISO Report states the need for a lot of new interstate transmission lines to support New England's renewable energy goals.  For example, the 12,000 MW wind case contemplates "a new three-subloop, dual circuit overhead 500 kV or 765 kV backbone transmission system overlaying most of the interior of New England."  The cases involving expanding interconnections with Quebec and New Brunswick propose two lengthy +/- 450 kV HVDC lines, including a 400 mile line stretching from the Maine-New Brunswick border to Millbury, Massachusetts.

3) Strengthen federal support for state and regional renewable development - This last category is more a hodge podge of things that New England would like the federal government to do, including prioritizing and expediting federal permitting for off-shore wind projects in state and federal waters, and providing additional funding for development of renewable resources and transmission infrastructure.  Most important, though is a general plea that the federal government:

Respect regional system planning processes and consider the results of regional transmission system plans and renewable resource scenario analysis as guidance in connection with interconnection wide analyses and any federal financial support for renewable energy infrastructure development

This hints at what's really driving the blueprint: New England governors' concerns about federal intervention forcing New England ratepayers to contribute to massive transmission projects needed to bring the huge amounts of wind planned in the Midwest to New England markets.  (For an example of what this might look like, see the Joint Coordinated System Plan (pdf), released by MISO, PJM and other regional entities in February, or our previous post on the subject.) In addition to the costs, those projects, backed by federal subsidies, could crowd out renewable energy investment in New England.  The Blueprint, along with the ISO-NE study, represent New England's latest efforts to show that New England can meet its renewable energy goals with intra-regional solutions.

The Straw Proposal: Offshore Wind and Tidal Power Seek Surer Footing on Maine’s Submerged Lands

Maine’s Ocean Energy Task Force (OETF) Regulatory and Permitting Subcommittee met this Tuesday, September 8th, to discuss a Straw Proposal for a set of recommendations to the full OETF.  The Subcommittee chair, State Planning Office (SPO) Director of Coastal Zone Management Planning, Kathleen Leyden, and SPO staffer Todd Burroughs reviewed the proposal with Regulatory Subcommittee members, accepting comments from members of the public. The Subcommittee meeting minutes will be posted at its page on the OETF website.

The Straw Proposal would establish that development of renewable ocean energy resources, including tidal and wind power, is an authorized use of state submerged lands.  But some commenters noted that the proposed language requiring "due consideration" and even compensation to be provided by renewable developments for other existing commercial uses, such as fishing, gives commercial fishing a superior right to use of submerged lands, rather than putting renewable resource uses on equal footing with fishing interests.  It was noted that the Subcommittee Recommendation to the OETF should include the option that renewable energy projects be recognized as an appropriate use of submerged lands, equal (or even higher) in priority to other uses, given the urgency of the need for renewable energy.

Tidal developers also pointed out that the straw proposal is focused exclusively on wind, and has not taken into account the unique aspects of tidal power projects.  DEP and SPO staff indicated that they believe that the Maine Waterways Act is sufficient to regulate tidal power, and that only the submerged lands, tax, and federal state coordination provisions of this proposal would apply to tidal power.  Members of the public were encouraged to provide more detailed commentary on this point, especially the unique aspects of the FERC Pilot Project process used for tidal projects.

The Subcommittee has been asked to complete its recommendation on legislation to the OETF by September 15, 2009.

For more information regarding the Straw Proposal or OETF, please contact Lib Butler, Sarah Verville or Chip Ahrens. 

DOE Loan Guarantee Webinar

The first in a series of Department of Energy webinars about the application process for DOE's Loan Guarantee Program will be held on Tuesday, September 8 from 1-2 PM (Eastern).  (More information about the Loan Guarantee Program, which was launched July 29, 2009, is available in our previous post.)  The webinar will cover “How to Build a Strong Application," including an overview of the program and suggestions on how to write a complete and strong application that presents the merits of a renewable energy,  electric power transmission or leading edge biofuels projects for the competitive technical review process.  To register for this free webinar, follow this link to the DOE website.

Section 1603 Cash Grants: Wind Wins

Having opened the application process for so-called Section 1603 Cash Grants just 33 days earlier, the Treasury Department yesterday announced the first round of grant recipients.  Among the twelve recipients are two New England projects:  Solaire Development, LLC of Danbury, CT (awarded more than $2 million) and Evergreen Wind Power V, LLC's Stetson Wind of Danforth, ME (awarded just over $40 million).  All told, the Treasury today issued about $500 million in grants in lieu of tax credits under Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provides cash grants of 30% of the cost of eligible property once a facility is placed in service (we described these grants in greater detail in a previous post).  The bulk of today's grants were awarded to wind projects (Solaire was one of two solar recipients).

In announcing these grants, Treasury took care to note that this first round was awarded in about half the time provided under the statute (60 days).  (Those who have been frustrated with the slow disbursement of stimulus dollars take note:  these grants were made 27 days ahead of schedule!)  The Treasury Department expects to announce more grants in the coming weeks.