Flett Exchange | RGGI Blog

Governor Christie Pulls out of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative RGGI

Posted on May 26, 2011

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced today that ” We (New Jersey) will withdraw from RGGI in an orderly fashion by year’s end”. This news is coming in front of a summer release of an amended Energy Master Plan for NJ. It is suspected that the major focus of the future for electricity generation in New Jersey will be on natural gas with a commitment to wind and solar. Major initiatives will be put on energy efficiency with the use of combined heat and power. Pulling out of RGGI will potentially allow for a more concentrated investment approach while reducing RGGI costs to ratepayers.

New jersey has a robust market for the development of solar by homeowners, business’s and municipalities. This market, which enables individual ownership of solar generation with an accelerated payback associated with a competitive REC market, has been hugely successful in spurring investment in the small sliver of power generation required from solar. The RGGI model differed by focusing on giving out lump sums of money towards all facets from energy development to energy assistance for the poor. During the last year New York and New Jersey siphoned RGGI money off to help fill budget deficits. A similar system to SRECs would spur investment in wind and combined heat and power. This would help New Jersey produce enough power in the future without building more coal plants.

A pull-out of RGGI would allow New Jersey to self tailor investment toward these new clean energy goals. RGGI funds were not used to the fullest potential previously. The same amount of money invested with a competitive REC market will go allot further. Private investment would take the risk while public support via a REC model. Ratepayers benefit in the long run because the price of the SRECs always track the lowest cost installations over time.

TAGS:
RGGI

RGGI, INC., a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established to support development and implementation

Posted on March 2, 2011

RGGI, INC., a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established to support development and implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), published a report outlining the benefits of the program. The report is titled Investment of Proceeds from RGGI CO2 Allowances. The full Report can be found at:

http://www.rggi.org/docs/Investment_of_RGGI_Allowance_Proceeds.pdf

This is a cheerleading report for the program and the benefits that it has achieved with the $789,000,000 in proceeds from the sale of CO2 allowances.

The Beginning of the End for RGGI

Posted on Feb. 25, 2011

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the 10 Northeast State Carbon market, is on its last legs. New Hampshire House passed a bill that would repeal the state’s membership in the RGGI. This comes behind a year in which New York and New Jersey used their RGGI funds to plug State budget shortfalls. The prime reason for the failure of RGGI is that the funds collected are diverted to the States first, instead of going directly to projects that would have reduced pollution. The main goal is to reduce carbon. The best way to do this is to invest in infrastructure that will accomplish this. Cap and trade needs to be structured so that the funds are used in the most efficient way to reduce the most amount of carbon. Investors in the infrastructure need to have the confidence that the flow of money can not be diverted by politicians before the projects are paid off and the investors have a chance of potentially making a return on investing. RGGI may have worked to fund short term energy efficiency projects like insulation along with energy assistance for the poor. Real projects that make big impacts cost millions of dollars and take 10 to 15 years to pay off. Cap and trade legislation needs to bring confidence to investors in large scale projects. Cap and trade brings the best value to the public since the cheapest and most effective projects will have the highest return thus shutting out wasteful expensive projects.

Flett Exchange established the spot market for RGGI credits in 2008 on its Internet marketplace. During that time we saw little interest from investors due to the structure of the RGGI program. In the future Flett Exchange will support carbon markets that have the ability to sustain projects that require large capital expenditures. The major test will be how the money flows. Investors will not invest if politicians can cut off the returns at any time like we are seeing in RGGI today.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view/20110223nh_house_votes_to_repeal_cap-and-trade_program/srvc=home&position=recent

Proposed Amendments to Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule

Posted on April 20, 2010

March 22^nd, 2010 – Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Dr. Lisa Jackson proposed amendments to the general provisions (subpart A) for the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases. Under this proposal are three new provisions that facilities reporting greenhouse gas emissions under part 98 of the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting rule would be required to report:

Their corporate parent companies,
The North American Industry Classification System codes that apply to their facility,
And whether or not emissions reported include emissions from a cogeneration unit.

These three reporting requirements would be included in time for the first annual greenhouse gas emissions reports scheduled to be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency on March 31^st, 2011, and in all years afterwards. The underlying reporting requirement already in place is intended to collect accurate emissions data in order to make informed policy decisions. The current provisions require annual reporting of industrial greenhouse gas emissions from large sources, fossil-fuel suppliers, automobile engine and vehicle manufacturers, and any facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of greenhouse gases in the United States.

The comment period for the rule amendments is currently open.

For more information visit the EPA’s web-site at:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/proposedrule.html

Comments can also be viewed on www.regulations.gov by inserting the following docket numbers:
EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0925, EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0923, EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0926, or EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0927.

TAGS:
RGGI

RGGI CO2 Allowances Secondary Market Report

Posted on Sept. 4, 2009

Potomic Economics published a report on the RGGI market satus as of September 2009. Click on the following link for the report:

http://www.rggi.org/docs/Secondary_Market_Report_September_2009.pdf

TAGS:
RGGI