Congress should not impose a federal renewable portfolio standard.
James Moeller is a partner is the Washington, D.C., law firm of Brunenkant & Haskell. This piece is based on an article to appear in the next issue of the Fordham Environmental Law Journal.
Since 1978, the federal government has relied on tax incentives to promote the generation of electric power from renewable resources — "green" power from hydroelectric facilities and windmills, solar panels and photovoltaic cells, facilities that burn biomass, municipal waste and landfill gas, and geothermal and ocean thermal resources.
For several years, however, the U.S. Congress has looked into promoting green power through a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) — an alternative to tax incentives. An RPS—in effect a quota on green power — would require that a specified percentage of electric power sold by electric utilities be derived from renewable resources.
Should Congress include a green-power quota in any comprehensive energy bill?
Federal Tax Incentives
A federal RPS would supplement or perhaps even replace the use of tax incentives for green-power development. Four incentives are available under the Internal Revenue Code for investments in power generation from renewable resources.