June 18, 2007—New Hampshire Governor John Lynch recently signed the Renewable Energy Act into law, thereby establishing a minimum requirement for new renewable power generation in the state, according to the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
The new law requires electric utilities to draw on solar power for 0.3 percent of their electricity needs by 2014 and to draw on other new renewable energy facilities for 6 percent of their electricity needs in 2015, increasing to 16 percent of their power needs by 2025.
To meet the requirement, the utilities can buy renewable energy credits from facilities using wind power, geothermal power, ocean energy, biomass, methane gas, and any solar power in excess of the 0.3 percent solar power requirement.
Incremental capacity additions to or significant refurbishments of existing hydropower and biomass facilities can also be included, as can offsets from the use of solar water heating to displace electric water heating.
The law also requires utilities to draw on existing renewable facilities for 7.5 percent of their electrical supply, although the state already generates 20 percent of its retail electricity supply from hydropower, landfill gas, and biomass power plants.
