Renewable Portfolio Standard

Renewable Portfolio Standard. Each electric utility shall establish a renewable portfolio standard of twenty percent of its net electricity sales on or before December 31, 2016. Source: PL 15-23, § 2(8622); amended by PL 15-87 § 2(8622), modified; amended by PL 18-62 § 2 (Sept. 4, 2014), modified. Commission Comment: The Commission removed a colon pursuant to 1 CMC § 3806(g). The Commission corrected the capitalization of the word “twenty” pursuant to 1 CMC § 3806(f). PL 18-62 (Sept. 4, 2014) contained, in addition to savings and severability clauses, the following Findings section. Section 1. Findings. The Legislature finds that the Commonwealth must find ways to conserve energy and explore alternative energy sources. Rising world oil prices have had a profound effect on the Commonwealth most notably with regard to public utilities. The Legislature further finds that the CNMI must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and move toward the use of renewable energy while setting realistic deadlines for meeting that goal. To implement these findings, Public Law 15-23 was enacted on August 10, 2006 and subsequently amended by Public Law 15-87. Public Law 15-87 contains renewable portfolio standards requiring that a percentage of electrical energy be obtained from renewable resources. None of the standards have been achieved. The Legislature finds that the renewable energy standards should be reduced to 20% and the time within which to achieve the standards should be extended to 2016. In addition, the Legislature finds that renewable energy sources are becoming readily available and more and more residential customers are seeking new options, even if it is at their expense, to help reduce the high costs of utility rates. However, the Legislature finds that the CUC has rejected the use of net energy metering by moratorium. It is for this reason that the Legislature agrees that in order to help residential customers who are seeking to include renewable energy systems, 4 CMC § 8532 must be amended to allow all eligible residential customer-generators with net metering.