POWER PLANT CARBON STANDARDS SOLAR

摘要

Acting under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed the first significant greenhouse gas controls on the U.S. electric power sector, to be finalized in June 2015. States will have broad discretion to determine how utility systems comply. Compliance could be achieved, in part, though policies that promote expansion of renewable energy and carbon dioxide (CO_2) emission reduction credit trading, under which photovoltaic (PV) systems may earn as much as 1.2 cents per kWh. Poorly designed state CO_2 reduction plans, however, could exclude renewables as a compliance option, and state emission caps could deprive solar system owners of rights to valuable renewable energy certificates (REC). To avoid these outcomes, PV industry supporters should ask EPA to set tighter emission standards based on projected solar generation, encourage states to allow renewables to count toward compliance, using established REC registries, and preserve PV owners' property rights to emission reduction credits.