A new report from the Brattle Group offers technical advice to policymakers in US States on designing rules to enable import of renewable-sourced electrical power from Canada.
As the report observes, “Canada has an existing and growing fleet of non-emitting power generation, with 83% of Canadian electricity produced by non-emitting resources in 2015. A number of U.S. states have expressed interest in considering clean energy imports from Canada as a component of their CPP compliance plan or as a pathway to achieving other environmental objectives. The EPA allows clean energy imports to contribute to CPP compliance, subject to certain requirements. However, the EPA has provided limited guidance on the precise mechanisms for meeting those requirements. State regulators therefore have the challenge of designing policies that fill in the details within the EPA’s guidelines and support related state energy and environmental objectives that are outside the EPA’s scope.”
“Enabling Canadian Electricity Imports for Clean Power Plan Compliance – Technical Guidance for U.S. State Policymakers” was produced for a number of organizations in Canada, including the Canadian Electricity Association, Canadian Hydropower Association and Canadian Wind Energy Association. It can be downloaded by visiting CanWEA.ca > Media > Press Releases > June 29, “New report released to help enable U.S. imports of clean electricity from Canada.”