IECA Urges State Commissions To Delineate Industrial CHP From Renewable Energy In Implementing PURPA

The Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA) sent a letter recently to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) to support state PURPA implementation policy that delineates industrial Combined Heat and Power (CHP)/Waste Heat to Recovery (WHR) QF treatment from renewable energy QFs.

Unfortunately, due to overly ambitious policy objectives and incentives to promote those policies, renewable energy has unique advantages that are distorting electricity markets. And, while consumers may benefit, or seem to benefit from lower electricity prices short-term, the market distortions themselves are having unintended consequences that are causing the imposition of new subsidies and costs that will further undermine the viability of markets. And most likely, all of these costs will be recovered from us, the ratepayers.

Unlike renewable energy QFs, industrial CHP/WHR QF facilities are not in the power generation business and we are not contributing to the problem. It is for this reason we urge state commissions to implement PURPA in a way that delineates industrial QF from renewable energy QFs. The letter provides suggestions on how state commissions should proceed.

About Industrial Energy Consumers of America
The Industrial Energy Consumers of America is a nonpartisan association of leading manufacturing companies with $1.0 trillion in annual sales, over 2,300 facilities nationwide, and with more than 1.6 million employees worldwide. It is an organization created to promote the interests of manufacturing companies through advocacy and collaboration for which the availability, use and cost of energy, power or feedstock play a significant role in their ability to compete in domestic and world markets. IECA membership represents a diverse set of industries including: chemical, plastics, steel, iron ore, aluminum, paper, food processing, fertilizer, insulation, glass, industrial gases, pharmaceutical, building products, automotive, brewing, independent oil refining, and cement.