photo credit: creative commons – Renewable energy at The Laurels Farm
Contributed by: Mark Nystrom, AOC Energy, Environment & Land Use Policy Manager
June 27, 2016
The Joint Interim Committee on Department of Energy Oversight met on June 27th to discuss the Oregon Department of Energy’s (ODOE) development services program. Included in this discussion was a presentation regarding various financial incentive programs including the Energy Incentive Program (EIP). Under this program, some counties and other local governments have had difficulties selling their tax credits due to complex project certification and rate setting formulas. During the 2016 legislative session AOC advocated for a legislative fix for this issue but there was very little traction. At the hearing on June 27th ODOE director Michael Kaplan acknowledged that a fix was needed to the EIP program and committed to working with the legislature. AOC continues to work with the League of Oregon Cities and others to find a fix to this program. Director Kaplan’s presentation can be found here and AOC’s public comment can be found here.