DASCHLE ENERGY BILL: SECTIONS OF EPACT 2002 IMPORTANT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

Thursday, December 13, 2001

REPP offers the following overview of the major Senate Energy bill, EPACT 2002 offered by Senator Daschle. The Table lists the Sections related to renewable energy and provides a very brief summary of the proposals. The following Attachment provides the legislative language of the relevant Sections.

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SECTION	POLICY IMPROVEMENT	DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE	BASIC TECH DEVELOPMENT
Title II: Electricity
Section 206. Open Access Transmission	Provide consistent national approach to access to interstate transmission networks.	Clarifies project access and cost of access.
Section 209. Transmission access for intermittent generators.	Removes cost penalty for intermittent wind and solar resources.	Improves project finances.
Section 242. Simplified interconnect standards for distributed generation	Encourages the development of dist. Generation and requires state consideration of fuel diversity.
Section 245. Net metering	Allows 10 KW for residential and 500 KW for commercial establishments to qualify for net metering.	Does not resolve all issues concerning pricing of net generation.
Subtitle E: Renewable Energy and Rural Construction Grants
Sec. 261. Renewable Energy production incentive.		Extends credits to 2013.
Sec. 262. Assessment of renewable resource potential.	Provides for an annual assessment of US potential.
Sec. 263. Federal purchase requirement.		Requires federal agency purchase 3% in 2002 to 7.5% in 2010 from renewable sources.
Sec. 264. Rural Construction.		Grants for rural "modernization" that favors renewables.
Sec. 265. Renewable Portfolio Standard		National RPS growing from 2.5% in 2005 to 10% in 2020.
Sec. 266. Renewables on federal lands.	Requires pilot program for wind and solar development on federal lands.
Title IV: Indian Energy
Sec. 401. Comprehensive Energy Plan	Encourages energy development on tribal lands. Is not necessarily tied to renewable energy.
Sec. 406. Renewable Energy Study	Report on tribal development and identification of barriers to tribal development of renewables.
Sec. 407. Federal PMA’s	BPA and WAPA to assist tribes get access to transmission. Not tied to renewable energy.
Sec. 408. Wind/Hydro Pilot	Requires project to link wind and hydro to supply firming power.
Title VIII — Fuels and Vehicles, Subtitle B — Alternative and Renewable Fuels
Sec. 811. Alternative fuel use by federal fleet.	Federal fleets with alternative fuel capability to use 50% alternative by 2003 and 75% by 2005.
Sec. 812 HOV Exemption.	Alternative fuel vehicles allowed in HOV regardless of number of passengers.
Sec. 813. Data Collection	Authorizes EIA to collect production and consumption data.
Sec. 814. Green School Bus Pilot	Grants to encourage alternative fuel school buses.
Sec. 815. Fuel Cell Bus	Pilot program to demonstrate fuel-cell powered school buses.
Sec. 816. Authorization of Appropriations		Authorizes $40 million in 2002 increasing to $80 in 2006 for 814 and 815 programs.
Sec. 817. Biodiesel fuel use credits.	Biodiesel use counts as alternative fuel fleet credits under 1992 EPACT.
Sec. 818. Renewable Content of Fuel.	EPA to mandate an increasing percent of renewable fuel be blended into gasoline. Allows tradable credits.
Title IX: Energy Efficiency and Assistance to Low Income Consumers
Sec. 904. Low Income Community Pilot Program	Authorizes $10 million per year for three years for CDC’s to develop efficiency and renewable energy projects in low income and rural communities.
Sec. 933. FHA Mortgage Insurance Incentives	Changes property value insurable due to the installation of a solar energy system from 20% to 30%.
Sec. 936. North American Development Bank.	Encourages US Board members to finance clean and efficient energy projects.
Title X: Climate Change Policy Formulation
Subtitle B: Climate Change Strategy			Establishes an Office of Climate Change Technology, authorizes $4.75 billion for period from 2002 — 2011.
Sec. 1042 Federal facilities greenhouse gas emissions.	Federal facilities emissions to be reported.
Title XII. Energy Research and Development Programs
Sec. 1221. Enhanced R&D.			Authorizes $550 million in 2003 to $733 million in 2006 for DOE wind, PV, solar thermal, biomass and biofuel, geothermal, hydrogen, hydropower, and electric energy syetms and storage programs.
Sec.1222. Bioenergy			Sets the 2002-2006 yearly R&D budgets.
Sec. 1223. Hydrogen R&D			Sets out Hydrogen Future program, with annual R&D budgets through 2006.
Sec. 1261. Energy Infrastructure Protection	Authorizes a program to assess the probabilistic risk to energy infrastructure.
Title XIII: Climate Change-Related R&D.
Sec. 1321. Clean Energy Export Programs.	Transfers clean energy technology to developing countries.
Sec. 1322. Tech, Deployment Program.		Pilot program to provide financial assistance as loans or loan guarantees to qualifying programs.
Sec. 1343. Tools fro Regional Planning	Improve planning efforts to assess environmental risks.
Title XVI: Studies
Sec. 1702. Hawaii Oil Dependence.	Study to consider the ability of renewables to reduce oil import dependence.
Sec. 1803. Critical Energy Infrastructure.	Allows financial assistance to programs critical to energy security.