LANSING – The package of bills recently passed the Michigan House to increase investment in electric generation in the state, and particularly in renewable power, will not meet that goal, the American Wind Energy Association said in a letter to Governor Jennifer Granholm and Sen. Bruce Patterson (R-Canton), whose committee is now considering the legislation.
The bills to implement a renewable portfolio standard and energy efficiency programs (HB 5548 and HB 5549 ) would require the major utilities to use 4 percent renewable power by 2012 and 15 percent by 2015.
But the association said the bills would actually create only a .5 percent increase in renewable power by 2014 and, given the off-ramps and what the group argued was a lack of enforcement, could not guarantee any more than that.
“The House legislation, as a package, cannot accurately be described as a renewable energy standard, and the public should not expect economic benefits to result from the package,” the group said in its letter.
The group called for a standard that would require 5 percent renewables in 2010, increasing 1 percent annually to 10 percent in 2015. That standard, the group said, would be a “nationally significant” market for renewable power.
This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com
a>>
