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Inslee unveils plan to give guarantees to clean-energy generators
Legislation would be first in Congress to bring successful German program to the U.S.

March 6, 2008

During a major speech at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC), U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) unveiled legislation that would give incentives to American consumers and businesses that generate electricity from renewable sources, like wind and solar.

Based on a policy that has enabled Germany to achieve 55 percent of the world's installed solar capacity and to provide 14 percent of its electricity supply from renewable sources, Inslee’s Clean Energy Buy-Back Act would guarantee U.S. producers of clean energy connection to the grid and predetermined rates from utilities for their power.  It is the first ever proposal in Congress that would implement what Inslee calls a performance-based incentive (PBI) policy, also known as a feed-in tariff, which has been proven to be the most effective means of increasing adoption of renewable-energy technologies in Germany, Spain, France and other countries. 

“When it comes to launching a clean-energy revolution, we should take to heart the catch-phrase, ‘If you build it, they will come,’” Inslee said during his speech at WIREC, the third global ministerial-level conference on renewable energy that follows events in Beijing in 2005 and Bonn in 2004.  “With market certainty, innovators and inventors will turn out to compete in the market for renewable electricity.”

Fellow WIREC panelist Bianca Jagger, chair of The World Future Council, continued, “The threat of a global climate disaster is no longer up for debate.  If we do not take decisive action before 2012 it will be too late.  World leaders of the wealthiest industrialized nations have a moral obligation to embark upon an immediate renewable energy revolution, to bring a swift end to the burning of fossil fuels.”

Policies like Inslee’s PBI have been implemented worldwide, in a total of 41 countries, provinces and states.  In the United States, measures that would enact such a system already have been proposed in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, and Rhode Island.  Even Inslee’s home state of Washington has a similar, but narrower law on the books to promote solar photovoltaics. 

“Through its three basic elements – guaranteed grid access, fixed fees, no capping – feed-in tariffs have led to investment autonomy through operators who are independent of the power supply industry,” commented Dr. Hermann Scheer, the member of the German parliament who played a key role in writing and enacting the law credited with adding over 140,000 jobs to Germany’s economy.  “New players have stepped into the market who now no longer have to ask the established energy providers for permission to access the grid.  Only in this way can a breakthrough for renewable energy take place.”

Inslee is a congressional expert on global warming and clean-energy technologies.  He serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the House Natural Resources Committee and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, where he has promoted policies to address environmental and security problems associated with climate change, like his New Apollo Energy Act, H.R. 2809.
 
“Just like there won’t be one silver bullet technology to solve global warming, there won’t be a silver bullet policy solution either,” Inslee added.  “This will be one important piece of the puzzle.”

Just last fall, Inslee co-authored a book about the green revolution called, “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy.”  It provides a roadmap for capitalizing on the economic opportunity presented by the need to transition the U.S. economy from one based on fossil fuels to one based on clean technologies.

Inslee’s Clean Energy Buy-Back Act has support of almost 70 companies and organizations, including the Biomass Coordinating Council, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2020 Vision and Washington-based AltaRock Energy, Infinia Corporation and Living Shelter Design Architects. 

“As the former Chairman of the Congressional Study Group on Germany, it is clear to me that the single most important step we can take in order to promote a rapid growth of renewable energy in the United States is to adopt our own version of the German feed-in-tariff,” said U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), the prime co-sponsor of Inslee’s bill.  “In my travels to Germany I have been amazed at how this very simple policy has created an explosion of grassroots interest in the use of solar and wind energy.  It is time to bring this renewable energy revolution to the United States.”

Learn more about WIREC.