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Renewable Energy Resources  ›  What You Can Do »

Renewable Portfolio Standards

What is a Renewable Portfolio Standard?
Twenty-one states plus Washington D.C. have adopted renewable portfolio standards. A Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is a policy that requires each electricity supplier or generator to obtain a minimum percentage of its electricity from renewable energy sources. Renewable energy companies bid against each other competitively to provide the electricity needed.

Why is the RPS needed?

An RPS offers the least-cost and most market-friendly method of ensuring that the renewable energy industries continue to develop despite the changes in market that restructuring will bring. It requires no subsidies to implement.

State-level commitments to renewable energy vary greatly across the country. Some states, such as California and Maine, have historically been and continue to be leaders in the use of renewable energy technologies. Many other states, including (but not limited to) Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, New York and Texas, have made great strides in recent years, significantly increasing their use of wind, bio-energy and solar technologies.

Yet many other states continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels for power and have made no significant commitments to develop renewable energy. As a whole, the United States currently gets about 2.5 percent of its power from non-hydroelectric, renewable energy sources.

The most successful renewable standard so far may belong to Texas, where more than 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity have been installed since the requirement was put in place in 1999. The original Texas standard required the installation of 2,000 megawatts of new renewable electricity generating capacity by 2009. However, in 2005 as a result of the standard's success, the legislature increased the new capacity requirement to 5,000 megawatts by 2015. Several other states—including Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, have also revisited and increased or accelerated their standards.

What is the added cost of an RPS?

An RPS may add cost to consumers' bills, because renewable energy sources are often more expensive than fossil fuels. However, this cost is very small. A recent study commissioned by the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources of that state's RPS found that it would add only 0.4% to consumer bills by 2003 (40 cents on a monthly bill of $100), rising to 2.2% in 2012 ($2.20 on a monthly bill of $100). And this cost is for a fairly aggressive RPS, almost twice the size of the one in Texas--the Massachusetts legislation calls for 6% of the state's electricity to come from renewables by 2012. In Texas, the cost of electricity from new wind farms is lower than that of electricity from new natural gas power plants.

Does Wyoming or Idaho have an RPS?

Not yet. Given the tremendous wind resources and the excellent environment for solar power and Geothermal power generation, the cost of producing renewable energy in our area is lower than most states in the country.

Interested in seeing Wyoming or Idaho adopt an RPS?
Contact us. A Wyoming RPS advocacy group is beginning to form.

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