REM reported on House Bill 6 in June, after a letter was sent by the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) urging opposition to the Bill, which would establish a township referendum process ACORE says would discriminate against wind development and eliminate Ohio’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
According to analysis by members of ACORE’s US Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance programme, the provisions in House Bill 6, in addition to the more restrictive wind setback requirements already in place, could cost the state more than $11 billion in new investment and economic activity.
AWEA has now joined ACORE in its criticism of the Bill.
“Ohio consumers and manufacturers want greater commitment to renewable energy, not less” said Andrew Gohn, Director, Eastern State Policy, AWEA. “Yet, while many states are expanding access to cleaner sources of energy, Ohio’s legislature has chosen to take a costly step backward by weakening the state’s renewable portfolio standard. House Bill 6 won’t make Ohio’s air cleaner, but it will hike consumer electric bills and send both jobs and clean energy investment to Ohio’s neighbours”.
House Bill 6 shrinks Ohio’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS) goal 12.5 percent to 8.5 percent. It would zero out the AEPS entirely after 2026. The bill also exempts industrial users equivalent to about 20 percent of Ohio load, meaning the real 2026 goal would effectively be further reduced to about 6.8 percent.
The Bill is another significant setback for Ohio’s clean energy market, on top of restrictive zoning provisions on wind turbines that were inserted at the last minute into the 2014 Ohio budget legislation. Among the most restrictive in the nation, Ohio’s wind farm setback restrictions have impeded wind energy development for the last five years. As a result, Ohio has fallen behind its neighbors, losing out on billions of dollars in private investment and well-paying blue-collar jobs.
"At a time when the nation is accelerating its transition to affordable, pollution-free renewable power, this legislation goes in precisely the wrong direction with a bailout of aging and uneconomic coal and nuclear plants, and a weakening of the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard" said Gregory Wetstone, President and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). "On behalf of our hundreds of member companies, we urge Governor DeWine to veto this bill and support the $11 billion in economic opportunity that renewable power presents for the state of Ohio.”
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