“It is unlikely that CUC will meet any of the RPS established,” Georgetown Consulting Group Inc. said in a report to the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission.
Under Public Law 15-87, CUC is required to establish an RPS of 10 percent before Dec. 31, 2008; 20 percent before Dec. 31, 2010; 40 percent before Dec. 31, 2012; and 80 percent before Dec. 31, 2014.
Georgetown, which is CPUC’s consultant. said these requirements are “among the most aggressive, if not the most aggressive requirements, in the world for an electric utility.”
Georgetown noted that the cost-effective potential for the development of renewable energy resources in the CNMI remains unknown.
Studies
The U.S. Department of the Interior, or DOI, has been and is a key driving force in the implementation of renewable energy in the territories, Georgetown said.
In 2007, Georgetown reported, pursuant to the Energy Policies Act of 2005, Interior prepared a draft update to its 1983 energy study performed on the territories.
The studies were performed at a very high level and provided only very basic information on the potential of renewable energy alternatives available for deployment in the CNMI, it stated.
“This has not been a good assessment of the CNMI and, in fact, no baseline evaluation concerning the potential for wind, solar, geothermal, ocean power, or other forms of renewable energy exists or is contained in this or other studies,” Georgetown said.
Interior has indicated to the territories its willingness to fund a strategic energy management plan which will include the development of a supply and demand-side management component, Georgetown said.
The plan will include the identification of renewable energy options, their potential and cost-effectiveness.
Early this year, Georgetown said, Interior received commitments from the various governors of the territories during the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, meeting.
“While these activities were to move as soon as possible there has been some delay in the progress associated with the provision of this technical assistance to the territories,” Georgetown said.
It added that certain work is ongoing on Guam given the immediate focus on the pending military buildup there.
“It is our understanding that a commitment has been made to the CNMI that baseline assessments are to be performed by DOI/NREL later this year on the potential for the development of energy efficiency, solar, wind, biomass and possible ocean and geothermal power,” Georgetown said.
By December, the report said, DOI will be sending a team of energy specialists to survey and perform the necessary analysis in each of the renewable energy areas.
Georgetown said similar studies are critical to the establishment of meaningful RPS objectives that are cost-effective.
Neither CUC nor CPUC currently have available to them the necessary information concerning the cost-effectiveness of specific renewable energy programs, Georgetown added.
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