BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s unsettled renewable energy landscape is again bedeviling the state utilities regulator, with a solar developer in Elmore County battling Idaho Power Co. over the lucrative renewable energy certificates that accompany its 20-megawatt project.
Grand View PV Solar Two, building the second phase of its project in southern Idaho, has lodged a complaint with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, alleging the utility is trying to steal its credits, also known as “green tags.”
These are the lucrative certificates that small renewables developers can sell to utilities in states such as Washington or Oregon that are under the gun to satisfy statutory green-power mandates.
“Idaho Power no legal right to them in the first place,” said Peter Richardson, the lawyer for the solar project, on Thursday. “They’re stealing our RECs, by forcing us to give them half of them before signing a contract.”
For its part, Idaho Power Co. says it wants to boost the electricity it gets from solar projects, but it’s not willing to take the juice under just any terms.
Idaho’s biggest utility says it needs to secure a share of these green tags from Grand View’s development in Elmore County — and other projects, too — because it may eventually need them to fulfill federal renewables requirements, if they’re ever passed by Congress.
“What we don’t want to do is give up any of the rights to 20 years of the RECS, when we may, in fact, need them in the future,” said Mark Stokes, the utility’s power supply manager. “All of these projects are getting developed in some of the prime locations. If one of those standards gets passed, and we have to go out and develop our own, we’re basically missing out on the opportunity.”
Why are the credits so hotly disputed? They’re worth a bundle.
Earlier this year, Seattle City Light, the utility for Washington state’s biggest city, bought the renewable energy credits from a 22-megawatt Idaho wind farm for approximately $1 million annually. And Idaho Power, under regulator orders, must sell its own green tags — from its Oregon wind projects and U.S. Geothermal’s Raft River geothermal power plant — for millions that help offset ratepayers’ bills.
A profusion of new energy technologies now being added to legacy electricity systems like Idaho Power’s is rattling the regulatory world, sometimes creating confusion and conflict as the Public Utilities Commission scrambles to keep up with the changes — and fulfill its mandate of giving ratepayers a fair deal.
Over the last year, wind turbines were largely the focus. Regulators were forced to intervene when wind farms split themselves up into small, 10-megawatt developments in order to take advantage of federal laws that allowed them to force themselves onto Idaho Power’s electricity grid at attractive rates.
Currently, the state commission is trying to figure out how best to determine just how much solar developers should be paid by utilities for their electricity. That’s to the chagrin of at least one developer, Interconnect Solar of Boise, which fears a delay ordered last week so the state could get a handle on things could doom its project.
And now, the Public Utilities Commission is being asked to referee the green-tag street fight.
Gene Fadness, the commission spokesman, says staying abreast of these changes makes for a brave new regulatory world — and Idaho isn’t alone. He said other states are also trying to figure out the best way to mesh small, entrepreneurial electricity producers into the systems of utilities that have enjoyed a monopoly for decades.
“Now, we have independent generators, independent transmission owners, so in the last decade or so, these have been new challenges that regulators nationwide are grappling with,” Fadness said.
Until now, Fadness’ office has allowed companies like Grand View and Idaho Power to settle the question of green tag ownership by themselves.
Mostly, that’s worked: Interconnect Solar, for instance, agreed to give up half of its green tags from its 10-megawatt project near Murphy to Idaho Power as part of its power-purchase pact earlier this tear.
But with this latest conflict, the regulator now likely has no choice but to step in. Fadness says the commission is awaiting Idaho Power’s response to Grand View’s complaint.
Stokes, Idaho Power’s supply manager, said it’s high time the green tag question gets settled, once and for all.
“It’s what needed to happen,” he said. “It’s going to get the issue in front of the commission.”
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