The Energy and Security Group teamed with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) to identify options for increasing renewable energy use in the State of Virginia through passage of a Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS). An RPS would mandate that between 15 and 20 percent of Virginia’s energy come from renewable energy resources. ESG contributed to this project through a portfolio risk analysis in the form of a report that examined the impacts that increased use of renewable energy would have on the expected cost and risk of electricity generation in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2015 relative to a baseline projection from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).In addition, ESG provided data collection and analytical support to the development of targets for the RPS legislation. To support mobilization efforts, ESG conducted stakeholder reviews and created outreach materials for Virginia’s renewable energy community.
ESG, CCAN, and other RPS stakeholders continue in 2007 to work to bring about renewable energy legislation in Virginia—an RPS would help foster national energy security, clean the state's air, stimulate economic investment, create new jobs, combat global warming, and lead to significant potential savings for millions of Virginia's electricity users whose energy bills are vulnerable to volatile natural gas prices.The proposed RPS bill would require that Virginia utilities obtain a modest 12% of their electricity from clean renewable resources like wind, solar, and biomass, and save 5% of their electricity through energy efficiency programs, by 2020.
This map of the U.S. shows which states have legislated RPS or other renewable energy targets. Virginia, along with the entire Southeast, lacks any such legislation. Source: dsireusa.org. As of November 2006.
