Renewable And Alternative Energy Policies - 1537 Words

When discussing renewable or alternative energy policies, common ideas such as more solar and wind come to mind foremost without or with little thought when you hear renewable or alternative energies. However, policies for these can be quite alarming to someone who does not work or study the field. With Pennsylvania deregulating their the electricity sector in late 1996, alternative energies were certainly not the first thing when it came to their minds when trying to reduce their ever increasing electricity bills. Deregulation brought many ways for Pennsylvania to reduce costs, with still many more questions to be answered and in 2004, when the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act was passed, it was not just up to the Pennsylvania†¦show more content†¦However it is not until 2007 where AEPS’s timetable for the next fifteen years for a progression to hit their desired targets for renewable energies (State Impact). As it stands, PUC’s standards involve rou ghly an eighteen percent alternative energy resources by the year 2020-2021 (DSIRE). In that eighteen percent, eight percent should be comprised of tier one energies, which includes â€Å"solar, wind, biomass, anaerobic decomposition, geothermal, ocean, fuel cells powered through renewables, small hydro, poultry-litter incineration facilities, waste-to-energy facilities† (Energy.Gov) and ten percent to be tier two energy usually, â€Å"black liquor, blast furnace gas, distribution generation, hydro, municipal solid waste, other caste, waste coal, waste heat, wood/wood wastes solids† (PUC 2013 Annual Report). Now standards and compliance are just numbers, and not truly indicative of Pennsylvania’s utility companies can keep up with them. In PUC’s 2013 annual report, all standards are in compliance to their requirements for the 2013 year (PUC 4). That means of the seventeen qualified generating facilities, each are in compliance to their quarterly adjustmen ts towards the goal of 18% alternative energies. For those adjustments, PUC uses the formula: â€Å"Non-solar PV Tier I % = New Tier I MWh generation/Electric Distribution Companies (EDC) and Electric Generation