ELECTRIC RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARDS
Order No. 25, 978
DE 16-850
New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission
January 17, 2017
Adjustment
to Renewable Class Requirements
Order
Maintaining Class III RPS Requirements for 2017 and Modifying
Class I Useful Thermal RPS Requirements for 2016
Martin
P. Honigberg, Chairman
In this
Order, the Commission modifies the Class I useful thermal
Renewable Portfolio Standard requirement for calendar year
2016 by delaying the scheduled increase and keeping the level
at 0.6 percent of retail electricity sales. The Commission
does not modify the statutorily defined Class III Renewable
Portfolio Standard requirement for calendar year 2017.
I.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
By
Order of Notice issued November 10, 2016, the Commission
solicited comment regarding whether it should adjust RSA
362-F electric renewable portfolio standard (RPS)
requirements, specifically the RPS requirement for Class III
(eligible biomass and landfill gas) for compliance (calendar)
year 2017, and the Class I Useful Thermal (Thermal) RPS
requirement for the 2016 compliance year. Pursuant to RSA
362:F:3, the Class III RPS requirement for 2017 is 8.0
percent of retail electricity sales, and the Class I Thermal
RPS requirement for 2016 is 1.3 percent of retail electricity
sales.
Providers
of electricity that are required to comply with RSA 362-F
achieve compliance by purchasing renewable energy
certificates ("RECs"), one certificate representing
the renewable characteristic of one megawatt hour
("MWh") of renewable energy generation. If an
electricity provider is not able to procure a sufficient
number of RECs to comply with the RPS requirement for any
particular Class of RECs, that provider must pay the
associated ACP into the New Hampshire Renewable Energy Fund.
For Class III, the ACP rate for 2017 is set at $45.00 per
REC. For Class I Thermal, the 2016 ACP rate is set at $25.33
per REC.
Pursuant
to RSA 362-F:4, VI, "[a]fter notice and hearing, the
commission may modify the Class III and Class IV renewable
portfolio standards requirements under RSA 362-F:3 for
calendar years beginning January1, 2012 such that the
requirements are equal to an amount between 85 percent and 95
percent of the reasonably expected potential annual output
for available eligible sources after taking into account
demand from similar programs in other states." RSA
362-F:4, V allows the Commission to accelerate or delay by up
to one year any given year's incremental increase in
Class I RPS requirements "[f]or good cause, and after
notice and hearing."
The
Commission held a public comment hearing on December 6, 2016.
The following parties offered public comment at the hearing:
Robert Olson, Esq., on behalf of Bridgewater Power Company,
LP, ENGIE North America, Inc., Tamworth and Pinetree Power,
Inc., Springfield Power, LLC, DG Whitefield, LLC, and Indeck
Energy Alexandria, LLC, all wood-fueled independent power
producers (collectively the "Wood IPPs"); Charles
Neibling on behalf of Innovative Natural Resource Solutions
("INRS"); Ray Albrecht on behalf of the National
Biodiesel Board ("NBB"); Jason Stock, on behalf of
the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association
("NHTOA"); Dan Allegretti on behalf of
Constellation NewEnergy ("Constellation"); Nathan
Hebel and Jim Monahan on behalf of ReEnergy Holdings, LLC
("ReEnergy"); Mark Dean, Esq., on behalf of New
Hampshire Electric Cooperative ("NHEC"); and
Matthew J. Fossum, Esq., on behalf of Public Service Company
of New Hampshire d/b/a/ Eversource Energy
("Eversource").
The
Commission allowed interested parties to provide written
comments by close of business on December 6, 2016. Written
comments were provided by Liberty Utilities (Granite State
Electric) Corp d/b/a Liberty Utilities ("Liberty"),
Constellation, and ReEnergy.
II.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
A.
Wood IPPs
The
Wood IPPs recommended that the Commission leave the 2017
Class III RPS requirement at the 8.0 percent level set by
statute. The Wood IPPs made this recommendation based on a
review of Class III supply and demand, and the activities in
the RPS market in other New England states.
According
to the Wood IPPs, there are eight (8) biomass...