Political Quotes

“today I rise to introduce the PURPA PLUS Act. In my home State we have numerous emerging small renewable energy technologies, such as wave energy buoys, hydropower turbines in irrigation canals, biomass burning cogeneration facilities and rooftop solar installations. Like Oregon, many States have sought to advance new electricity technologies by providing these kinds of projects with higher power purchase rates for their power than utility companies normally pay for electricity. These incentive rates allow individuals and small businesses to recover money they invest in solar panels or other electricity generation projects over a reasonable period of time. The PURPA PLUS Act simply provides States the clear legal authority to set these incentive rates for small renewable energy projects. Currently, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, has exclusive jurisdiction over wholesale energy prices. Under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, PURPA, FERC regulates the price that utility companies pay for electricity from small, independent power providers and that rate can be no higher than what it would normally cost a utility company to buy additional power, known as ``avoided cost''. My bill would transfer the authority for setting power purchase rates for small power projects of less than 2 megawatts from FERC to the States. This transfer is voluntary.…”