Government/ Non-Profit

This year’s Renewable Energy Policy Forum takes place as seismic developments in national and global policies are reshaping the renewable energy marketplace. In December, Congress enacted a major new tax package offering long-sought stability to the wind and solar power industries. Just two weeks earlier, 129 nations at the COP21 meetings in Paris reached agreement on an unprecedented global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Taken together, these developments are a source of immense promise for the future of renewable energy in the U.S. and around the world.
 
But important challenges remain. The wind power industry faces a steep phase-down of its tax credit, losing 20 percent of the credit value in 2017, and an additional 20 percent for the two years that follow. Other renewable technologies, including geothermal, hydro and biomass, secured a tax credit extension only through 2016, and will need quick action from Congress to keep their incentives in place. Meanwhile, the Clean Power Plan moves to the critical implementation stage, with states working on their compliance plans even as legal challenges work their way through the courts. With tax credits phasing down just as the deadlines for most ambitious emission reductions come into force, the Clean Energy Incentive Program, a promising but uncertain new element of the Clean Power Plan, may have a critical role to play.
 
Join ACORE on March 16-17 for an in-depth analyses of these important policies and the critical challenges that lie ahead!

This webinar, presented by the Clean Energy States Alliance's State-Federal RPS Collaborative, will explore the role and treatment of hydropower in RPSs across the country. Specifically, it will provide an overview of hydropower technologies, growth potential, and the opportunities for this renewable energy resource to provide additional value to RPSs in the future. The National Hydropower Association will present on the current state of hydropower in RPSs, as well as growth opportunities across the industry, including efficiency improvements and new development. The Low Impact Hydropower Institute will explain its independent Certification Program, which has been incorporated into some state RPSs and voluntary markets. A representative of the US Department of Energy’s Hydropower Vision will discuss that initiative, which will lay out the building blocks for a new era of sustainable hydropower growth over the next half century. There will be time for questions. The webinar will be hosted by CESA Executive Director Warren Leon.

Presenters:

• David Zayas, Senior Manager of Regulatory Affairs and Technical Services, National Hydropower Association

• Dana Hall, Deputy Director, Low Impact Hydropower Institute

• Tim Welch, Hydropower Program Manager, Wind and Water Power Technologies Office, US Department of Energy

For more information, click here.