ODOE to Hold Renewable Energy Certificate Stakeholder Meeting June 15
Join the Oregon Department of Energy on Thursday for a stakeholder meeting about Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) that are associated with renewable electricity imported into California via the energy imbalance market (EIM). The stakeholder discussion will center on whether zero emissions claims on imported electricity affect a REC’s eligibility for the Oregon Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
June 15, 2017 | 1 – 4 p.m. Oregon Department of Energy Meitner Room 550 Capitol St. NE Salem, OR 97301
Participants who are unable to attend in person may call in: (877) 402-9753, Access Code: 2934157
Utilities that generate or purchase renewable electricity apply for RECs to comply with Oregon’s RPS, which outlines the state’s requirements for renewable energy generation. In 2016, Oregon’s RPS targets expanded through Senate Bill 1547, so 50 percent of the energy from our largest utilities must come from renewable resources by 2040.
To accommodate compliance with both its RPS and with its carbon cap and trade program, California allows RECs associated with electricity counted as zero emissions under its cap and trade program to also be used for RPS compliance. Investor-owned utilities (IOUs) that export renewable energy into the EIM have raised questions as to whether the RECs associated with electricity imported into California and counted toward California’s cap and trade program would be eligible for RPS compliance in other states, like Oregon.
Most recently, the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System (WREGIS), the tracking system for RECs in the western region, was asked to render an opinion on whether RECs associated with an energy bid into the EIM bound for California would need to be retired. WREGIS provided a draft opinion stating that per definition of terms in its Operating Rules, it considers carbon claims to have been made on the RECs in question, and that they should be retired.
As a member of the WREGIS Stakeholder Advisory Committee, ODOE will participate in WREGIS’s stakeholder process on its draft opinion. Our agency understands that this is a complex question that could have ramifications for a number of Oregon stakeholders for years to come, and we know it is critical that we hear the concerns and suggestions of affected and interested parties. To that end, our agency will hold stakeholder meetings during summer 2017 to discuss the issue.
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For more information to provide comments, contact Rebecca Smith at Rebecca.Smith@oregon.gov or 503-373-7955.
To request an interpreter for the hearing impaired or accommodations for persons with disabilities, please contact the Oregon Department of Energy at least 72 hours before the meeting at 1-800-221-8035 or fax 503-373-7806. TTY users should call the Oregon Relay Service at 711.