Renewable Energy Legislation in Maine
Last updated: Tuesday March 09, 2010
The original bill (LD 1450) that we had drafted was voted "ought not to pass" and parts of it have been incorporated into HP 742, LD 1075 The combined bill is now known as: "An Act To Promote Community-based Energy". Some features of LD 1450 have been incorporated into LD 1075 which, has been severely limited in its effectiveness by the imposition of caps on both the maximum generating capacity and rates payable to distributed generators. What remains of LD 1450 is the concept of feed-in tariffs pertaining to systems under 100 kW capacity. (Over 100 kW systems can negotiate contracts with the PUC).
Latest News
March 9, 2010: LD 1171 An Act To Increase the Affordability of Clean Energy for Homeowners and Businesses This bill which uses a different funding model is currently in committee and uses the PACE (property assessed clean energy) funding approach. Here is a summary:
What the bill does: This bill authorizes creative financing of energy improvements through an approach called Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE). It allows local governments to lend money to homeowners for weatherization and homeowners to repay the loan through property taxes. Outcome: To address the concerns of banks, the final bill redesigned the loans in a way that makes bond markets and private lenders unlikely to lend money to towns for this purpose. Fortunately, Maine has applied for a $75 million federal grant from the Department of Energy, which would fund the program. With federal funding we hope this lending approach will be adopted in Maine towns and demonstrate success.
June 10, 2009: LD 1075, the Community-based Renewable Energy Pilot Program law has been passed to be enacted on a roll call vote on June 4, 2009 in Augusta. The vote was 145 yeas, 0 nos, 5 absent, 1 excused. The governor signed the bill into law on June 9.
LD 1075 has become the successor bill of both LD 1450 (The "feed-in tariff bill") and the original version of LD 1075 (An Act to Promote Community-based Energy). In quest of a unanimous committee vote, the combination bill has been watered down from two separate acts designed to provide major incentives for distributed renewable energy generators to a pilot program with only a very modest incentive effect at best.
On the positive side, the new law includes key elements of the feed-in tariff concept -- long term contracting on the basis of predetermined rates for small power generators that use renewable energy as defined in Maine law. It also provides specific advantages for community based electric power generators. Thus the new law establishes in Maine law several precedents that will serve as a platform for the significant improvements needed to make this legislation serve the purposes which both original bills were intended to serve.
All concerned agree that while the survival of this legislation in a very difficult legislative climate is a major achievement, it is only the beginning of a longer process that must ultimately lead to significant growth in renewable energy-based distributed power generation -- and thus reduced reliance on fossil fuels -- in Maine.
May 20, 2009: At 3:42pm the Utility & Energy committee voted a unanimous "ought to pass" on LD 1075 (the combined bill). The PUC have been tasked with setting rates within certain prescribed limits and caps once it passes.
The final unanimous vote
feeds about feed-in tariffs