The Ohio state legislature passed a bill calling for electric utilities to significantly increase their usage of renewable energy such as wind and solar power over the next 17 years.
The legislation creates a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) for the state, requiring utility companies to increase their use of renewable energy sources steadily from 0.25% in 2009 to 12.5% in 2025.
The bill is expected to support 5,000 megawatts (MW) to 7,000 MW of new wind energy installations-or investments with a value of $10 billion to $14 billion, according to the American Wind Energy Association, which offered high praise for the "nationally significant" measure.
"Ohio’s legislation is very significant for two reasons," said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. "First, Ohio, as a major industrial state, uses a lot of power and will now become an important market for renewable energy. Second, this legislation can jump-start the involvement of Ohio’s world-class manufacturing infrastructure and world-class skilled manufacturing workforce in wind energy manufacturing, which will bring benefits not only to Ohio–new renewable energy jobs–but also to the whole country and industry as we tap Ohio’s expertise."
In the near term, AWEA estimates that the legislation will result in about 650 MW to 750 MW of new wind energy investments prior to 2012, or approximately $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion in new investments over that period.
Furthermore, 25 states plus the District of Columbia have previously enacted mandatory renewable energy standards such as this, so Ohio’s addition to this group means that a majority of all states will have such standards.
Ohio governor Ted Strickland, who was instrumental in the proposal of the legislation, is expected to sign it into law sometime this week.
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