In the past few days, North Carolina and Illinois have joined the 21 other states (and the District of Columbia) in adopting renewable portfolio standards. The basic idea behind an RPS is that a certain percentage of electricity must be delivered by renewable resources within some time frame. The California RPS for instance dictates that 20% of the state’s electricity must come from renewable sources by 2010, presently it’s 14%. Utilities, Municipal Districts, and Direct Access providers are tasked with ensuring the percentage is met and will be fined $50 per MWh for non-compliance up to $25M per entity per year.

North Carolina’s RPS targets a 12.5% RPS by 2021. An interesting twist is that NC is looking to achieve 40% of that through conservation and efficiency. Illinois is a more standard RPS targeting 25% by 2025 with milestones along the way every few years.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 7:15 am and is filed under Policy.