Title: Florida
1Floridas Renewable Portfolio Standard
WorkshopJuly 26, 2007Tallahassee, Florida
2Almost Half of the States Have Adopted Renewable
Portfolio Standards
- Four areas of the country have been active in
adopting standards - Soon a fifth area will develop around Florida
3Without National Leadership, States Have
Developed Many Approaches to Renewable Portfolio
Standards
- There are almost as many approaches to renewable
portfolio - standards as there are states
- Each state has different challenges and
opportunities - it is trying to balance
4Almost all states face the question of whether or
not there will be enough renewable energy within
its boundaries to meet its goals
- This is driven by the renewable resources
- that may or may not be present
- The lack of proven, cost-effective technologies
for many key renewable energy sources, e.g. - Cellulosic ethanol
- Solar
- Hydrogen
- Ocean energy
- Fuel cells
5States have chosen similar methods of meeting
this challenge, adapting their goals to meet
specific state needs
- Some states have used Renewable Energy Credits
(RECs) - as a means of meeting renewable
energy goals - Some states have limited approval of renewable
technologies to those that match the states
renewable energy resources - Some states have chosen to encourage the
development of state renewable energy resources
by the way they set renewable energy standards,
or the valuation of RECs used to meet utility
renewable energy goals
6A Megawatt Goal versus Peak Generation Goal is an
Interesting Way of Framing the Issue Nationally
the debate has been capacity versus energy
- Energy goals favor renewable technologies that
produce power intermittently - Wind
- Solar
- Capacity goals favor technologies that are
dispatchable, and act more like base-load energy
units - Biomass as a fuel to co-fire, or direct fire
boilers or turbines - Geothermal
- Waste to Energy Technologies
- Land-fill Gas
- Anaerobic Digestion
7Megawatt Goal versus Peak Generation
- Only two states have approached RPS with a
megawatt goal - Iowa
- 105 Megawatts
- Texas
- 2,280 MWs by 1/1/2007
- 5,880 Mws by 1/1/2015
- At least 500 MWs from renewables
- other than wind
8Florida Should Consider
- Using renewable energy as one means of meeting
the need for additional fuel diversity - Creating a preference for the creation of
renewable energy in Florida over RECs purchased
in other states - Developing the renewable energy resources Florida
has been given - Strong bio-energy potential due to the best
growing climate in the United States and a strong
agricultural base - Abundant sunshine
- Potential for ocean energy
- In the debate over capacity versus energy, giving
more economic value to technologies that act more
like a traditional utility generation plants
high capacity factor renewable resources
9Biomass Could Be A Major New Energy Resource for
Florida
- Biomass is almost exclusively recognized for its
potential with cellulosic ethanol - The potential for biomass as a fuel to co-fire or
direct fire boilers to generate electricity is
gaining more national attention - National studies indicate that the development of
biomass could meet or exceed the current energy
potential of wind energy and hydro-electricity - Florida already has the Okeelanta Power Plant,
one of the largest and best operated biomass
plants in the United States. - These type of resources should be expanded, if
possible
10The challenge of Meeting Renewable Energy Goals
Seems too Great to Many People
- Some are talking about calling nuclear energy
renewable - Nuclear energy is clean energy, from the
standpoint of emissions - It is not renewable
- It will be developed to meet Floridas growing
energy needs - Giving it an additional incentive by placing it
in a renewable portfolio standard could slow or
stop the development of renewable energy
resources which are unique to Florida