Agencies prodded to implement renewable energy law

A legislative committee has prodded concerned agencies on the implementation of the green energy law.

Rep. Tina Sablan, chairwoman of the Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications Committee of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, sent out letters to six agencies tasked with implementing the Commonwealth’s renewable energy law. She asked each agency about its progress toward meeting the intent of the legislation.

Public Law 15-23 was enacted in May 2006, in a bid to increase the CNMI’s reliance for power generation on renewable sources of energy rather than fossil fuels. The law was amended in September 2007 to shorten the timeline for compliance with renewable energy portfolio goals.

The agencies are the Department of Commerce, Department of Finance, Department of Lands and Natural Resources, Department of Public Lands, Department of Public Works, and Saipan Zoning Board.

Commerce, for instance, is tasked to collaborate with Public Works in developing a program to maximize the use of green energy and cost-effective conservation measures by government agencies. Both agencies are also directed to work with federal agencies to identify funding for research or technical aid to support the CNMI in efforts to achieve the renewable energy portfolio standards set by the law.
Lands and Natural Resources is supposed to work with Public Lands and the Zoning Board in developing a catalog of potential sites for the development of renewable energy. It is also mandated to work with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to expedite the planning and permitting processes for the development of renewable energy resources.

Finance is directed to ensure that all CNMI government agencies are purchasing energy using energy efficient products, and implementing methods for using energy cost effectively.

Public Law 15-23 established requirements for the use of renewable energy, a policy for energy efficiency, and standards for clean energy transportation. It set deadlines for each electric utility to gradually increase the amount of alternative energy they produce.

Public Law 15-87 amended the initial green energy law, setting more rigid requirements for local utilities to integrate green energy into their system. P.L. 15-87 requires that renewable energy constitute 80 percent of the power utility’s net sales seven years from now.

Under the latest law, green energy must constitute at least 10 percent of the total energy produced by CUC by the end of 2008. From then on, the standard would double every two years, until it reaches 80 percent in 2014.