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The Role of Forward Capacity Markets in Increasing Demand-Side and Other Low-Carbon Resources: Experience and Prospects
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| Meg Gottstein and Lisa Schwartz May 2010
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| PDF 3MB |
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This policy paper, incorporated into the European Union's Roadmap 2050 Report, explains auction-based forward capacity markets and their role in addressing resource adequancy in the power sector. Early experience in the United States suggests that these markets have the potential to play a supporting role in delivering capacity from low-carbon, demand-side resources, including energy efficiency. However, auction results to date also suggest that these markets encourage the construction or continued operation of high-emitting supply-side resources to meet reliability targets. Market design improvements and additional policies can serve to better align these capacity markets with carbon reduction goals.
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International Experiences in Regional Air Quality Management: Recommendations for China's Forthcoming RAQM Regulation
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| Chris James, Rebecca Schultz, The Regulatory Assistance Project; Jean-Marie Rambaud, European Federation of Clean Air & Environmental Protection Associations; James Lents, International Sustainable Systems Research Center; Zhao Lijian, Hu Min, The Energy March 2010
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| PDF 186KB |
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Decades of experience in regional environmental planning in the US and EU have produced lessons that can help China’s policymakers and regulators learn from demonstrated successes, avoid failings, and take advantage of timely opportunities to leapfrog antiquated and costly practices, particularly in light of new challenges posed by global warming emissions. This paper, providing input for China’s efforts to establish a system of regional air quality management (RAQM), was presented at the International Workshop on Joint Prevention and Control of Regional Air Pollution in China, organized by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection.
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Coal Initiative Series: State Policy Options to Advance CCS
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| Pew Center on Global Climate Change - Richard Cowart and Shanna Vale, Regulatory Assistance Project; Joshua Bushinsky and Pat Hogan, Pew Center on Global Climate Change February 2010
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| PDF 338KB |
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State Options for Low-Carbon Coal Policy is the third in a series of Pew Center papers that explore strategies for addressing CO2 emissions from using coal to provide electricity. This paper provides an overview of the policy options available to states to encourage the deployment of carbon capture and sequestration technologies for coal-fueled power plants, including those policy tools available to state public utility commissions.
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A Comparison of Energy Efficiency Programs for Existing Homes in Eleven Countries
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| Blair Hamilton February 2010
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| PDF 1MB |
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Carbon emissions from existing homes represent as much as 25% of total emissions in many
countries and are an increasing focus of national and local climate initiatives. Recognizing
that efficiency is both a least‐cost emission reduction strategy and that achieving widely
accepted climate goals will likely require massive de‐carbonization of the building sector,
there is high interest in policy and program options that address existing homes.
This report presents a high‐level comparison of current public energy efficiency
programs for existing homes in eleven countries. Prepared for the Department of Energy and Climate Change of the United Kingdom.
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Amending China' s Air Pollution Prevention And Control Law: Recommendations From The International Experience
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| August 2009
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| PDF 2MB |
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The amendment process of China's Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law presents an opportunity for international best practices to provide insight into the development of China's future air quality regulatory regime. A team consisting of the Regulatory Assistance Project, the Energy Foundation's China Sustainable Energy Program and the Natural Resources Defense Council prepared this volume of recommendations for the air pollution law revisions. Key issues discussed include regional air quality management, multi-pollutant control strategies, integrated approached to energy and environmental regulation, climate change, and industrial pollution control measures.
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State Clean Energy Policies: The Foundation for an Electric Sector Cap-and-Trade Program
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| July 2009
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| PDF 239KB |
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National climate change policy faces the challenge of achieving deep
emissions reductions while minimizing economic disruption. Since one of the principal
aims of a cap-and-trade program is to lower the overall societal cost of environmental
improvement, it is crucial to design a national carbon policy that taps the lowest-cost
emission reductions available to the economy and avoids creating unnecessary costs. As
a source of substantial low-cost carbon emission reductions, state clean energy policies
should provide an essential foundation for an energy sector cap-and-trade program. This paper articulates the central role to be played by the state-level clean energy policies and the public utility commissions in the implementation of a cap-and-trade program. RAP provided policy support to NARUC's Task Force on Climate Policy, and assisted in researching this policy brief.
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IssuesLetter - Smart Grid or Smart Policies: Which Comes First?
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| David Moskovitz and Lisa Schwartz July 2009
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| PDF 1MB |
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With the great expectations for smart grid, and billions of dollars in smart grid
grants to be divvied up under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commissions
are looking for value in the concept and trying to determine what consumers
will get in return for their money. Bottom line: Smart grids should be accompanied
by smart policies or their full potential will not be realized and the cost to consumers
will exceed the benefits. Like the Internet, another communications technology, it all
comes down to content. Smart policies create the content for smart grids and should not
lag behind their roll-out. A smart grid without smart policies is anything but smart.
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Recent Developments Affecting State Regulation of Nuclear Power
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| Peter A. Bradford and Regulatory Assistance Project July 2008
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| PDF 197KB |
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Nuclear power’s low carbon content is (or might be) an attractive feature
in a world increasingly concerned about
climate change. But the cost of new nuclear
units is only beginning to become clear,
and they are much higher than the industry
estimates of a few years ago. Regulators will
need to be sure that nuclear proposals are
thoroughly and evenhandedly compared to all
alternatives and that mechanisms are adopted
to protect customers from the types of unpleasant
surprises that history has shown to
accompany this problematic technology
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Revenue Decoupling - Standards and Criteria, A Report to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission
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| Wayne Shirley, Jim Lazar and Frederick Weston June 2008
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| PDF 596KB |
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In 2007, the Minnesota legislature enacted a new statute, Section 216B.2412, in which it defined an alternative approach to utility regulation, decoupling, and directed the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to “establish criteria and standards” by which decoupling could be adopted for the state’s rate-regulated utilities. In addition, the legislation authorized the PUC to allow one or more utilities “to participate in a pilot program to assess the merits of a rate-decoupling strategy to promote energy efficiency and conservation,” subject to the criteria and standards that the PUC will have established.
The groundwork for this report was laid through a series of meetings in April and May 2008 with commissioners and staff of the PUC, officials at the Office of the Attorney General, and staff at the Office of Energy Security, through written comments from stakeholders, and through a two-day workshop attended by representatives of the state agencies, affected utilities, and other interested parties. This report is the product of that collaboration.
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Rate Structures for Customers With Onsite Generation: Practice and Innovation
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| L. Johnston and K. Takahashi, Synapse Energy Economics; F. Weston and C. Murray, Regulatory Asssistance Project January 2006
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| PDF 1MB |
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In the late 1990s, widespread publicity surrounded the commercial introduction of
microturbines, and new market developments appeared likely to vastly increase the
deployment of distributed generation (DG). In this environment, state and federal
policymakers began to address the challenges that were preventing DG from becoming an
integral part of the traditional transmission and distribution grid. The expectation was that
more and more commercial and industrial users of electricity would use onsite generation,
often in combined heat and power configurations. Although the actual scale of DG
deployment has not met these hopes and current natural gas prices are making the future
more uncertain, there have been significant increases in DG installations in the past decade.
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Energy Efficiency Policy Toolkit
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| The Regulatory Assistance Project January 2006
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| PDF 482KB |
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Rather than address why policy makers might want to develop more aggressive clean
energy policies, this Energy Efficiency Policy Toolkit assumes you are already interested.
It sets out a compendium of tried and true regulatory policies that will advance the
development of cost-effective clean energy within both the electric and gas systems in
your state. We examine policy options in four primary areas: energy efficiency,
renewable energy, distributed resources and rate design. We also discuss the key
importance of regulatory financial incentives which play an essential role in either
discouraging or supporting the development of clean energy, particularly energy
efficiency.
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A Transmission Primer for Government Officials
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| Richard Sedano, Matthew Brown April 2004
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| PDF 63KB |
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RAP's Richard Sedano and Matthew Brown, director of the Energy Program at NCSL, gave this presentation to state officials in a webcast April 20, 2004 organized by the US DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Denver regional office. The presentation provides basic information about electric transmission in the US, including history, what transmission does for society, how it works, and policy matters.
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Dimensions of Demand Response: Capturing Customer Based Resources in New England’s Power Systems and Markets
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| Richard Cowart, Jonathan Raab, et al. July 2003
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| PDF 1.18MB |
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The overall objective of NEDRI has been to devise an effective long-term strategy for demand
responsiveness in New England's power systems and markets, including load response resources and efficiency investments. NEDRI participants envision a regional economy and environment enhanced by a more productive and less wasteful electricity system, and one that is more reliable and more vigorous due to broad-based competition among both supply-side and customer-located resources. A principal lesson of NEDRI’s investigations is the realization that “demand response” is not a one-dimensional concept, but rather a multi-faceted set of resources that can provide value to electric systems and markets in a variety of ways.
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Who Should Deliver Ratepayer-Funded Energy Efficiency? A Survey and Discussion Paper
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| Cheryl Harrington and Catherine Murray May 2003
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| PDF 1.69MB |
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This paper examines policy options and approaches for administering ratepayer-funded electric utility energy efficiency programs. The authors have surveyed the administrative approaches used in 14 states, the Bonneville Power Administration and four countries to identify ways in which administrative approaches differ, and determine why some states have clearly had more success in realizing energy efficiency than others.
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Distributed Resource Policy Series: Distributed Resources Credit Pilot Programs: Revealing the Value to Consumers and Vendors
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| David Moskovitz September 2001
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| PDF 81KB |
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This paper describes implementation options for two concepts: deaveraged
distribution credits and distributed resource development zones. The concepts are closely related,
and both were first described in Profits and Progress Though Distributed Resources (NARUC,
February 2000). We believe that developing workable programs implementing these policies can
dramatically increase the deployment of distributed resources in ways that benefit distributed
resource vendors, users, and distribution utilities.
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Best Practices Guide: Implementing Power Sector Reform
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| Regulatory Assistance Project May 2000
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| PDF 507KB |
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The Global Center for Environment, Energy and Environmental Training Program of the United States Agency for International Development(USAID) has developed the Best Practices Guide series to provide technical information on the topics of power sector reform and regulatory practices. This series of guides is adapted from coursework designed to develop technical leadership in energy development and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. This guide is designed for regulators and their staffs, government officials and others interested in power sector reform and regulatory practices.
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Profits and Progress Through Distributed Resources
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| David Moskovitz February 2000
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| PDF 247KB |
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This paper explores technological advances in the aerospace industry, small and micro-scale power plants, technologies born in the military and automotive industries (fuel cell car engines will be fuel cell power plants). These distributed generating resources are located in the utility’s distribution system and can be on either side of a customer’s electric meter. Along with better known and proven energy efficiency and load management technologies, these distributed resources are poised to revolutionize the electric utility industry. Many, but not all, of these small fuel-based technologies are highly efficient, mobile, and cleaner than central station generation. Distributed resources based on renewables (wind and photovoltaics) and energy efficiency are always cleaner. And, thanks to small size and mass production, the cost of all these technologies is dropping fast. The combination of advances in distributed resources and in control and information technologies means that distributed resources can play a central role if markets and regulators allow these resources to compete.
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Profits and Progress Through Least-Cost Planning
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| David Moskovitz November 1989
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| PDF 291KB |
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Least-cost planning (LCP) is a process of examining all electricity-saving and electricity-producing options to select a mixture of options that minimizes total consumer cost, often including consideration of environmental concerns and other responsibilities. In the broadest sense, this paper discusses issues relating to the earnings implications that flow from the pursuit of least-cost plans. More narrowly, however, the issues, discussion, and conclusions apply with equal force whenever a utility implements cost-effective demand-side measures, whether as part of a least-cost plan or not. To a lesser extent, the paper addresses how these issues relate to many supply-side options, particularly cogeneration and renewable resources.
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