In response to a Staff report regarding the availability of Qualified Reporting Entity ("QRE") services, the Oregon Public Utility Commission (the "Commission") has opened an investigation that will commence with a prehearing conference on October 21, 2008.
In the report, Staff explains that section 14 of the Oregon Renewable Energy Act, Senate Bill 838 (the "Act"), obligated the Oregon Department of Energy (the "DOE") to establish a system of identifying and counting Renewable Energy Credits ("RECs") that can be used by electric utilities and electricity service suppliers to meet the requirements of the Act’s Renewable Portfolio Standard ("RPS"). As a result of the Act, the DOE established the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System ("WREGIS") as the system to be used to certify RPS requirements. Renewable energy portfolio options also require that RECs be WREGIS-certified.
For renewable generation to accumulate RECs under WREGIS, each generator larger than 360 kW must have its generation data uploaded to the WREGIS system each month by a QRE. Balancing authorities typically serve as QREs for their interconnected generators, but an individual generator can serve as its own QRE so long as the entity maintains strict separation of function rules—a requirement that can be difficult to meet. Third parties can provide QRE services but may encounter economic disadvantages as well as difficulties in either installing meters or gaining access to the balancing authority’s meters.
Currently, the California Independent System Operator and Bonneville Power Administration are registered QREs and provide QRE services to all generators interconnected with their balancing authority areas, without charge. PacifiCorp and Idaho Power Company are also registered QREs, but both only provide QRE services to their own generators and those with which they have contracted to purchase RECs. Portland General Electric is not registered as a QRE.
According to Staff, renewables generators in Oregon have been denied QRE services from unnamed electric utilities and, consequently, the RECs produced by those facilities cannot be certified by WREGIS or counted toward the state RPS requirements. Furthermore, neighboring states also require WREGIS certification to meet their RPS standards, and thus generators failing to receive QRE services will not have their RECs counted in those states either.
With Oregon’s first RPS compliance year approaching in 2011, Staff has asked that the Commission quickly resolve the following issues:
| (1) | Does the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have jurisdiction over QRE service, and does the answer depend on the service’s design and the services provided?
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| (2) | Is it discriminatory for a utility to charge for QRE services but not charge itself for the same services for owned or contracted facilities? |
| (3) | Can QRE services be provided as a competitive service? |
| (4) | Should electric utilities be required to provide QRE services upon request? |
| (5) | What are the costs, and basis for those costs, for providing QRE services to unaffiliated entities? |
| (6) | Should utilities be able to charge for QRE services or would the cost be too expensive? |
| (7) | Should QRE services be regionally subsidized? |
The results of this investigation may have dramatic effects on the costs and availability of QRE services, and the decision will touch all renewable generators interconnected with an electric utility regulated by the Commission. Further, the results of this investigation may have effects on future similar proceedings in other states; thus parties participating in this investigation may have ground-floor access to region-wide QRE policymaking. The Commission will hold a prehearing conference on Tuesday, October 21, 2008, seeking to identify parties and issues, set a schedule, and consider any other matters raised by parties. Parties desiring to participate must notify the Hearings Division by 4:00 p.m., Friday, October 17, 2008.
If you have further questions, please contact:
Jennifer H. Martin at jhmartin@stoel.com or (503) 294-9852
Jason A. Johns at jajohns@stoel.com or (503) 294-9618
Marcus Wood at mwood@stoel.com or (503) 294-9434
Stephen C. Hall at schall@stoel.com or (503) 294-9625
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