“To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on Federal agency use of renewable energy certificates.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study on Federal agencies' use of renewable energy certificates (RECs), or other energy attribute certificates, including their role in complying with section 203 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15852). (As background, that section requires that at least 7.5% of the Federal Government's electric energy consumption be renewable energy in FY2013 and each fiscal year thereafter, with amounts doubled if produced and used on-site at Federal facilities, on Federal lands, or on Indian land.) The study must evaluate (1) the extent to which aggregate REC market demand leads to new renewable energy generation capacity; (2) agencies' progress toward revoked Executive Order 14057's clean energy directives using RECs (by type) versus other approaches; (3) the feasibility, costs, and noncompliance risks of using RECs, power purchase agreements, or onsite renewables to meet the statutory requirement; (4) agencies' average costs of RECs for funding existing versus new renewable projects; and (5) agencies' projected average costs of using only those methods for new projects. The Comptroller General must submit a report to Congress detailing the findings and providing recommendations for legislation or administrative action to enhance REC market impacts on Federal renewable energy investments.