Governor Calls On General Assembly To Strengthen Alternative Energy Standards

In a letter to the General Assembly, Gov. Rendell this week called for an increase in the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards to require electric utilities to buy more solar and wind energy.

The Governor said Pennsylvania has made significant strides in producing alternative energy since the passage of the AEPS standard in 2004, but now the state is falling behind, in particular on solar energy mandates.

He noted by the end of 2009, Pennsylvania ranked second in the nation in wind power with 17 operating wind farms providing 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 270,000 homes. By the end of 2010, the state will rank in the top five nationally in solar energy producing 60 megawatts of solar electricity or enough to power 7,200 homes.

Overall the Pennsylvania law requires that by 2012, 18 percent of all retail electricity sold in Pennsylvania must be from clean and renewable resources. But now Maryland has a renewable requirement of 20 percent by 2022 and New Jersey has a 22.5 percent requirement by 2021.

Pennsylvania's solar energy mandate is currently 0.5 percent by 2021, while New Jersey is 2.12 percent by 2020 and Maryland's is 2 percent by 2015.

"When other states enact higher requirements for renewable energy, they make their own states more attractive for future investments and put our competitiveness at risk. We need to preserve the Commonwealth's position as a leader in alternative energy and protect our investments and the thousands of associated jobs by raising our requirements for renewable energy," said Gov. Rendell.

Although no piece of legislation was mentioned in the letter, the Governor appeared at a separate event this week in support of House Bill 80 (Vitali-D-Delaware) and Senate Bill 92 (Erickson-R-Delaware).